When can ducklings be put in with drakes?

We have 1 adult duck and 2 adult drakes. 9 weeks ago a broody chicken hatched out 2 more (female) ducks. They are already just as big as the adults! Right now we have the 3 ducks together and 2 drakes separated but I would really like to combine the two groups! The drakes are pretty aggressive about mating and I don't want them hurting the ducklings, which is why we have them separated. When is ok for the ducklings to be mated with?

Mommato5 said:

We have 1 adult duck and 2 adult drakes. 9 weeks ago a broody chicken hatched out 2 more (female) ducks. They are already just as big as the adults! Right now we have the 3 ducks together and 2 drakes separated but I would really like to combine the two groups! The drakes are pretty aggressive about mating and I don't want them hurting the ducklings, which is why we have them separated. When is ok for the ducklings to be mated with?

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The duckling need to be at least 4-5 months old before put with drakes. I'd keep them side by side so they can all get use to each other but 9 weeks is way too young to put with aggressive drakes plus your other duck would get abused terribly from over mating. Start around 4 months old letting them all be together with supervision then let them sleep in their own spaces at least this way if one of the drakes gets too carried away you can break it up.

The older duck has been with the drakes for over a year, since hatching. She actually misses her boys and doesn't seem to suffer from over mating! However, the set up we have now, the girls are in the duck pen (with the pond) during the day while the boys are just loose in the backyard and we close the girls in the coop at night and the boys get the pen and pond all night, but are vulnerable to predators. They are pretty fierce, though. They chase our 75# dog around the yard! LOL We just don't have anywhere else to keep them because we have a broody chicken sitting on 8 eggs in our spare coop! It's a good set up because the ducks are all side by side and the boys aren't showing aggression to the babies any more, but the 3 adults REALLY miss each other! And our female's eggs aren't fertile any more and we have another chicken gone broody and no fertile eggs to put under her!

Anyways, it'll be better once we can put the boys and girls together again, but I don't want the babies to be hurt by the drakes. It's crazy because the babies are only 9 weeks and yet the size of the adults!