A senior Muscovy duck needs exercise scaled to a heavy body on older legs: short level walks, low places to rest, and no expectation that he will fly, climb, or scramble as he once did. Muscovies are unlike other domestic ducks, perching, roosting, and carrying substantial weight, especially drakes.
The Muscovy difference in old age
In a senior Muscovy duck, aging collides with habits other ducks never had. A drake who roosted on a fence rail or flew a short hop to a pond must now come down from that height on stiff wings and older joints, and a bad landing can injure a foot or leg badly enough to end his walking. You may see a senior Muscovy duck choose the ground more often, walk with a wider, more deliberate gait, rest his breast down after short distances, or avoid the busy route to feed where younger birds push past.
Rebuilding his route at ground level
For a senior Muscovy duck, move roosting and resting down. Provide a low, broad perch or a deep-bedded ground shelter he can step into, and block or remove the high spots he still attempts out of habit before he falls from one. Lay his daily circuit on flat, grippy ground between shelter, feed, water, and a small foraging patch, and keep that circuit short enough that returning never becomes an expedition. Scatter greens and feed across the patch so a senior Muscovy duck earns his steps by grazing and picking rather than being herded along a path.
Offer a senior Muscovy duck a shallow pool or a gently shelved pond edge where he can wade, bathe, and paddle a little without a steep bank to climb afterward. A tired heavy drake hauling himself up a slick bank is at real risk of slipping back or straining a leg, so a stepped or ramped exit matters more than depth. In cold weather, limit long soaks for a senior Muscovy duck who dries slowly, and make sure dry bedding waits where he can reach it in a few steps.
Pacing, flock pressure, and hot weather
Feed him where a younger drake cannot chase him off mid-meal, and open gates in an order that lets him pass without a crowd behind him. Short sessions spread across the day suit him better than one long range, and his own decision to settle is the stop signal, not the flock moving on without him. In heat, a heavy senior Muscovy duck struggles: schedule his foraging for the cool hours, keep shade on the circuit itself, and watch for open-bill breathing or wings held away from the body as signs to end the outing and let him rest near water.
Check a senior Muscovy duck's soles for swelling, cuts, or a warm, painful spot, and keep his walking ground free of sharp rubble and deep mud that forces each step. A senior Muscovy duck who stops walking to feed, cannot rise from rest, holds a leg up repeatedly, or breathes hard while sitting still needs a veterinarian promptly. A drake who gradually gives up a favourite patch over a few weeks also deserves that visit, with your notes on when the change began.
One record for a bird several people handle
A senior Muscovy duck is often moved, fed, and shut in by different hands, and each person may quietly shorten or lengthen his day without realising the pattern has changed. A shared note of how far he walked, whether he used the water, and how his feet looked gives those handlers a common baseline. Holding that history alongside his other records in KinsLe through Pet Passport means his next carer or veterinarian starts from what his movement was actually like last month, not from a guess at the gate.