ducklings

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakersherwood 

i have a group of 5 mallards  3 drakes and 2 females...one of my females are nesting and due to hatch. do i need to seperate the female and her duckling from the rest of the group?? will the others harm the ducklings or are they ok to all stay together??? 

thank you 

I hope you can get some females out of your hatch cause your ratio of males to females is off, I don't know about drake mallards but I do know I try to keep my Muscovy drakes away from the baby ducklings for awhile till I see how he interacts with them, drakes have been known to kill ducklings, so saying that I would either separate or just keep a watchful eye for any potential danger to the ducklings. 

If we are successful here with any of our nests, i plan on removing mum & ducklings as i have 3 drakes.. I think it's best as Miss Lydia  said to avoid any possible injuries.

My concern would be the drakes picking on her being only one hen up against 3 drakes?  I have a 3-5 ratio here and it gets crazy.. i am ever so hopeful we'll get more hens and i can kick a few drakes to the curb lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakersherwood 

thanks for that .. what about the other female will i need to remove her aswell ??

 

My female ducks we not very nice to the ducklings either and some of them were theirs, lol. if you can put mama and babies into a small run for at least a week or 2 it will help alot and give the ducklings a chance to get their legs under them, after that they will be able to run for their lives if one of the others goes after them. I did make it so all could see each other, that way when they were let out to mingle with the rest they all knew each other. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss Lydia 

My female ducks we not very nice to the ducklings either and some of them were theirs, lol. if you can put mama and babies into a small run for at least a week or 2 it will help alot and give the ducklings a chance to get their legs under them, after that they will be able to run for their lives if one of the others goes after them. I did make it so all could see each other, that way when they were let out to mingle with the rest they all knew each other. 

Yes, we did similar when we brought my then 3-4 week old drakes in last summer.. they got to "see" the rest of the flock but were safely sectioned off by wire lol I would still keep an eye on how the drakes behave with only 1 hen available to them as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakersherwood 

no,  they are out together at the moment as  the other  female does not come out much as she is nesting.. and the 3 drakes are fine with her ..they all get along really well we got them as a group and they have grown up together and are really close... 

Ok that's good, just watch for changes.. I say this because i have 3 drakes myself and while they have grown up together and so forth they are fighting quite heavily but have definite moments of calm however they have access to more hens than your 3 do.