Can I have two drakes and one duck?

Hi,

I just hatched three Saxony ducklings (one died a few days before the hatch). They are now five weeks old and it's pretty clear that I have two boys and one girl. I'm afraid that the girl (Joey) will get mated to death by two boys (Jimmy and Elvis) when they mature. Should I try to find another home for one of the boys while he's still pretty young? Should I not worry about it and see what happens? All three of them are just beautiful and hilarious but I don't want Joey to get hurt.

Thank you!

SIMPLE ANSWER: GET 2 MORE FEMALES!!!! I know that the female with be mated like crazy, and I don't know how male ducks fight but that's always a possibility. Good luck, and HAPPY 4th!!!!

Boy ducks don't really fight. They just bob their heads and puff out their chests. I would see about getting a few more girls though. Boys are pretty ruff on the girls. If you can't do that giving him away sounds good too.

Thank you both for your thoughts. Since we live in the middle of Silicon Valley (i.e. no valley and all houses!) getting more ducks isn't an option. I'm trying to decide now if waiting to see what happens is OK or if it's better to give one of the boys away sooner rather than later. Any thoughts?

Thank you again!

Hi,

Drakes do fight. Usually while both are on top of the Hen trying to claim her. NOT a lot of fun for her. And if it happens while in a kiddie pool -- could be deadly for her.

In my experience - unless you can get 3+ Hens per Drake - only keep one of them. And that doesn't mean they won't fight; it just cuts down on the occurances.

Me.........I would wait until you see signs of breeding to choose. At that point I would choose the best looking Drake and find a home for the second one.

HTH,

They will fight, and easily kill a weaker bird even another male trying to mate them. I had three that were raised together and they would all go for the same bird at the same time regardless if there were other females. It depends on the personality of the bird. I have a male that is very mellow and does great with his one female, but I have some younger ones I could just about kill.
I was trying to re-home them a while back and took them to someone’s pond/ lake who had another male duck, so thinking "oh it’s another male they will be perfect here" we released them. I almost had to jump in the lake to save the guys bird. Luckily for the bird and me my drakes do their thing quick, and he was able to escape to shore and then collapse. Least to say the guy would not allow me to leave my drakes there. They sure had fun in a real lake though.

It all depends on the birds personality, but if you have a two to one ratio you need to get at least two more females. Whenever you have multiple males they will be even more aggressive competing against each other.

Edit just saw the bit about not being able to get more~
If you decide to find them new homes its best to start sooner than later, I was stuck with my three drakes for six months before I was able to find them homes people either wanted to eat them or flaked at the last minute. Craigslist.org is your best bet for rehoming, but you will have a lot of flakes.

Thank you all.....though I was secretly hoping for more of a "It's OK to have two boys to a girl" answer! I posted an ad on Craigslist and I guess I'll cross the bridge of which boy to give away when I get there. One boy is much bigger than the other - and I can't decide if being bigger means that he'll be rougher on the girl when mating or if he's just a more striking/healthy drake. All three of them are good looking birds - they're just starting to get their blue feathers on their wings!
If anyone knows someone around Mountain View, CA who needs an extra sweet and handsome young Saxony drake who loves to weed and hang out in the garden, loves to lie on me in the grass, but hates to be picked up - please let me know!

Can two males be kept peacefully together if there isn't a female to fight over?

Sure you just need to give them time to determine who the bigger duck is. My three drakes were raised together no problems until they would get upstairs where the girls were. There is a guy who lives by me that has about 20 drakes and no females he loves them. They don’t fight and they are much prettier than the gals!

I have two drakes and one female. The one male and female came together and they have been mating lately. The older crippled male just stands by. But I guess that doesnt help much considering that my 2:1 arent all young.