Mating season

[TwinDuckies]

Hi everyone! So I am a duck mommy who has 11 ducks (7 drakes and 4 ducks). With mating season coming up and me still being a (somewhat) new/inexperienced duck mommy, I was just hoping for some opinions on how I have my drakes/ducks fenced areas split up. I've been hearing ugly stories lately about ducks getting drowned/hurt by drakes during mating season and don't want any of my precious duckies to fall victim to this . (I'm so sorry for the long post but I wanted to be thorough)

I have my male Saxony and older male Pekin with my crested duck who, for whatever reason, none of my drakes ever try to mate with so I'm not worried about having them together they get along beautifully.

I have my 2 Rouen females (Freddie and Kingsley) and my female Khaki (Pharaoh) with my oldest Rouen drake, my male Swedish Black duck, and my younger male Pekin (who is not hormone driven at all whatsoever so no worries there)

My youngest twin Rouen drakes are housed separate because all the other drakes won't stop fighting with them . I have a little small doorway where Freddie, Kingsley, and Pharaoh can go back and forth to where they're fenced and where the twins are, but made sure its too small of an area for my boys to fit through (so they won't fight each other)

 

[DukesDucks]

Not sure of your location so I can't know what your temperatures are like. Some of these drakes may be fine now but could drastically change as spring hormones kick in. I only have Muscovy ducks so I can't comment on which breed of ducks should be together but it should be 1 drake per at least 4 females. You may need to have 2 flocks with 1 being all males, always separated.
I would keep a very close eye on the dynamics within the groups. The idea that a female can be killed by drowning and/or over-mating is real.

 

[MegaChickEnergy]

New on here, but I have a small flock of six ducks. 2 drakes and 4 ladies. I had a loan pekin last year(Lucky) and decided to get four more to go with her(they are about 16-18 weeks old now), I ended up getting two more Pekins (Blaze & Shadow) and two rouens (Sonic & Amy); each pair ended up being one male one female. They have been raised together since they were in the same tank at TSC.

I recently took in another female Pekin duck(doesn't have a name yet) that was being bullied by chickens in the previous flock, so far no name and Lucky have been fighting over my male turkey and have little to no interest in the new male ducks, but as a group No Name does get pushed out of the flock from time to time especially at the water bucket. (That last bit is kind of irrelevant at the moment)

But this morning my rouen drake(Sonic) was mounting the Pekin female (Shadow), and afterward (Amy) the rouen female started to bite at Shadows back.

With all of this info should I be fine in keeping them all together, or will I end up having to split the Pekins from the rouens?

 

[Miss Lydia]

This can be normal behavior as long as the one being bitten isn't being injured like having her feathers ripped out or her head being chewed open[my Runner female had this happen] she is separated from the 2 drakes for now. Drakes will also do this if one is mating a female another drake will join in and bite the female being mated. One thing we have to be careful of is in water if 2 or more drakes go after a female they can drown her.

 

[MegaChickEnergy]

This can be normal behavior as long as the one being bitten isn't being injured like having her feathers ripped out or her head being chewed open[my Runner female had this happen] she is separated from the 2 drakes for now. Drakes will also do this if one is mating a female another drake will join in and bite the female being mated. One thing we have to be careful of is in water if 2 or more drakes go after a female they can drown her.

Thank you for the reply!

So far the ducks are finally let her into the flock but now the turkey is trying to mate her which sucks because I'll have to separate him from them and he's been like a protector of sorts.

Now my problem is the male roosters are aggressively mounting her. She has bite marks from where they grab her and this morning I came out to a bloody beak. Idk if I should try to give her back to the person that gave me her(she was picked on by the hens there too) or if she needs to find an all duck home to go to. Most of my roosters and hens aside from 1 roo and 4 hens are all in the 16-18 week time frame I assume so it may just be hormones but I have no clue. All I know is I'm tired of seeing my females hurt.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like it isn't going to work with you unless you can separate the ducks from the rest of your poultry. I am having to do that now to keep a few of my females from being overmated by my 2 drakes. 5 in their own area now. We do what we have to to protect our girls. If the roosters have bloodied her bill next maybe her eyes.

 

[MegaChickEnergy]

Sounds like it isn't going to work with you unless you can separate the ducks from the rest of your poultry. I am having to do that now to keep a few of my females from being overmated by my 2 drakes. 5 in their own area now. We do what we have to to protect our girls. If the roosters have bloodied her bill next maybe her eyes.

Yeah, I think it's time to put up a pen just for the ducks. It sucks though because everyone is free range and the ducks go all over. But the one does tend to stay in on area as to not be seen I assume. So maybe I can just keep her in the pen by herself until she heals up. She was laying eggs at her previous place and laid one egg here her first night but hasn't laid an egg since. Maybe so e isolation will do her good.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Will she be able to see the rest? can you put another female in with her. isolation isn't really good for ducks who have a flock mentality.
Stress will cause them to stop laying.

 

[MegaChickEnergy]

Will she be able to see the rest? can you put another female in with her. isolation isn't really good for ducks who have a flock mentality.
Stress will cause them to stop laying.

Yes, I could add lucky in with her. They tend to stick together anyway, and bicker over the male turkey.

You seem very knowledgeable, have you ever had to treat pink eye for ducks before? I noticed one eye getting a little goopy today and wasn't sure what to do..I don't have a local livestock vet to call.

 

[DukesDucks]

Miss Lydia is one of my most trusted pros.

Does the eye look foamy?