Help reintroducing drake to flock?

[WVduckchick]

Letting the female go to the male may also give you an idea of how ready she is to release the ducklings. If she is ready to go back to her mate, then he may leave the ducklings alone more. But if she is still in mommy-mode, she may scream her head off. But it sounds like its time to find out!
Good luck!

 

[Skye'sDucks]

It's doesn't matter if you only have one Drake Duckling. Breeding season is hormones at the highest levels and Two Drakes will fight over one Hen even if you have 7 Hens. If you plan on keeping more than 1 Drake you will need separate pens. Drake fights are vicious and they can kill or injure a Hen once they set their sights on her. I have small Call Ducks and the fights are just as vicious if my Drakes get together by accident.

What months are breeding season?

Well, I counted and it seems like I have an even flock. I might've miscounted the drakes, but it appears that I have 11 drakes and 11 hens. I...Can see a problem arising, lol. We will let their wings grow out, so they can fly away if they want, but I'm thinking I might have to get rid of a few drakes.

Thanks so much again. I'll definitely keep that in mind about drakes.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Letting the female go to the male may also give you an idea of how ready she is to release the ducklings. If she is ready to go back to her mate, then he may leave the ducklings alone more. But if she is still in mommy-mode, she may scream her head off. But it sounds like its time to find out!
Good luck!

Thank you!

I don't quite know if my hen is ready or not. She doesn't scream or get angry at him, but she did run away from him whenever we put them together in the same yard a few months ago. It could be just the matter of letting him chase her and breed her and see if the drake calms down by then.

I'll probably try to do a test run either today or sometime this week.

 

[WVduckchick]

If you have room to make a separate area, drakes kept with just other drakes usually do ok together, if they don't have a female to fight over. But otherwise, that's wayyy too many drakes for the number of hens.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

If you have room to make a separate area, drakes kept with just other drakes usually do ok together, if they don't have a female to fight over. But otherwise, that's wayyy too many drakes for the number of hens.

Technically we do have room to keep several of the drakes separated, but the whole point of trying to see if keeping them together in one flock would work was because we were trying to get my one drake out of the smaller yard, since the rest of my family (asides from my mom) don't want the duck/s back there.

I'm starting to think about selling some of the drakes, as really that's the only option to solve the problem. Thankfully I've only named four drakes so far, so I haven't gotten too attached to them. (I have a problem with that lol)

How many drakes would you suggest I should keep with my 11 hens? (Not including the parents)

 

[chickens really]

I wouldn't breed Dad to daughters or siblings..

 

[Skye'sDucks]

I wouldn't breed Dad to daughters or siblings..

No, I wouldn't. My hen was in the same clutch as him...Was that wrong? Would he try to breed the babies? (I'd take the eggs, anyways, as long as they aren't hidden and I can find them. But if its wrong anyways for him to breed them, please let me know. I don't want to be ignorant.) I wasn't thinking the father drake would try to breed the babies...? Unless that can be a problem?

My question was how many of the drakes from the ducklings I should keep, should I sell a few since I have so many. Or at least if I should count two hens to a drake or three.

 

[chickens really]

Sell all but one Drake from the Ducklings and as long as you don't hatch the eggs it's no problem who breeds who..

 

[chickens really]

Also you can keep Dad too..

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Sell all but one Drake from the Ducklings and as long as you don't hatch the eggs it's no problem who breeds who..

Alright...Would keeping more than one drake from the ducklings, say three, (I have three favorites, but I won't let that decision cloud my judgement) make drastic changes? Or would it be too much of a hassle?

Also about selling ducklings: have you had an experience with this? I may end up making a separate thread to ask more questions about selling ducks, but I want it be as least stressful as possible. If you had any experience, would you mind giving me some tips?