My duck is actually a drake (Murray McMurray ducks)

I ordered a pair of female Pekin ducklings from McMurray last year. One of them was always smaller, but I just figured she was a "runt". Fast forward to the past few days. The smaller duck had been mounting the larger duck, and both were acting strange for days, leading up to my larger duck laying her very first egg on the 28th. Very exciting day!

(chicken egg on right for size reference)

She laid again the next day, but my smaller duck didn't, and was still continuing to mount her and act strangely. "She" had no curled tail feather, so I wasn't worried, until today when I actually saw her... well, "her" man bits. So Amelia is now known as Waldo. However, I got two ducks with the intention of having them be ornamental for my lake and to eat their eggs - not to raise ducklings! I called McMurray, but they were closed for the day. I have no idea if they'll help me, but even so, they'd probably just send me another duckling as a refund of sorts. What do I do with Waldo? Does anyone have a similar experience?

Another (potentially relevant) thing - she abandoned the first egg, but was sitting on the second egg until I collected it. I haven't candled it to see if it's fertilized, but I put it in the fridge so it won't make much of a difference anyway.

If you don't want ducklings don't let her brood any eggs. Just keep taking them as you have been doing. They usually lay a nest full before they start brooding. Pekin aren't know to be broody so it seems a little odd to me for such a young one to sit on a single egg anyway. Or you could let her brood some and see if you can hatch a couple more females for eggs. Just be aware she won't lay eggs while she is brooding and raising the ducklings. And there could be issues with a young duck brooding so you might have to take over at some point. You could also incubate and raise them yourself.

Sexing isn't 100% guaranteed so I wouldn't expect much from the hatchery.

You have a few options for Waldo. You can get rid of him by selling to someone else or culling him yourself. Pekin are good for meat so you probably wouldn't have a problem selling him if you aren't picky on where he is going. You can also keep him but there are issues that have to be dealt with when you have a drake. If you do want to keep him you might think about getting a few more females the same age as your ducks. A one to one ratio can sometimes cause problems.

Thank you for the reply!

It may have been a coincidence that she was sitting on the egg, as their place to lay is inside their house, where she usually sleeps. Just an afterthought.

I'm attached to Waldo after raising him for this long, so I'd be really hesitant to sell him somewhere that didn't intend to keep him alive. That might be a little trickier, understandably. Thank you for laying out my options like that - it gives me things to consider. What would a good ratio be? I probably couldn't keep more than three ducks. I'm not sure if 2:1 is good enough to even out the playing field.

I think I'll still call McMurray to see, even if it ends up with nothing. Just to sate myself.

I have heard that trios (Waldo amd 2 females) are good and certainly better than just one female but I've also heard 3-5 females is good. Would be possible to maybe add one more to that 3 number you'd have 4 total??

And I agree that you should call the hatchery. Sexing isn't guaranteed sure but most places have a 90% sexing guarantee... this is 50/50 since you only got 2, which is really poor.

Just remember if you decide to hatch any eggs, 50% of them will probably be males......

I totally understand that you got attached. It's pretty easy to do. Won't fault you one bit for that.

I agree with KDOGG that the more females you can add to the mix the better. Some people do just fine with a pair or trio and some have drakes that just can't be satisfied no matter how many hens they have. It's really hard to say how it will turn out. You could always wait and see how Waldo does with just one mate and go from there. Just be ready to separate them if he gets to be too much.

There's certainly no harm in calling the hatchery. The worst that could happen is they tell you there's nothing they can do. Though I'd like to point out that the 90% guarantee applies to all the birds they sex not to each batch they sell. If they do offer a duckling you are going to need to get two and you'll have to wait months before you can put them with the adults. Just something else to consider.

Ohhh okay, for some reason I thought it was each batch. Guess that'd be a little hard to guarantee hahah