Duck questions from a beginner

[nelleyoukai]

Hey guys, this is my first time with a flock and I'm kind of just learning as I go, lately I've had some things on my mind that Google hasn't been able to help me with so I thought I would go straight to those in the know

First up, a little background info I guess?
I currently have 3, 3 month old ducks- a pekin female, a Muscovy drake and a ? Drake. (Still not sure with him, he's either a WH, Roen or Mallard X with something)
Anyways, we are aware that scovies will only give fertile ducklings when bred with other scovies but that's as far as our knowledge goes in regards to getting baby ducklings.
We are getting a female scovy for our big boy Speedy, and another duck (hopefully a Cayuga) for our other drake Seth.

I was wondering how old will they roughly be when the drakes become sex crazed and the ducks begin to lay?

Also, in regards to getting ducklings, do the males need to breed with the females every day to make the daily egg fertile?

Or do they only need to go at it once and then that clutch of eggs is fertile?

And can two different drakes breed with the same duck and give her a mixed clutch of ducklings? (I know the scovy will breed mules with the others but if it happens to happen) should I try to avoid that? By penning the scovies seperate from the rest?

Should I just keep the boys away from the girls altogether because they're all different breeds or is that okay?

Will the ducks lay everyday? And will it be a good idea to pen the boys and girls separately every few days to give the girls a break?

If there's any other advice anyone can give me that would be swell haha

Sorry for the massive amount of questions, I just want to do this right

Thanks in advance

 

[PotatoWaffles]

I have no experience with muscovies, so I'll skip those questions. Maybe @Miss Lydia or @learycow can help. I know they have muscovies. My males started getting interested in the girls at about 4-6 months old, and the girls started laying about that time too. My mallard girls are eight months old and still haven't laid, but my other ducks all started around four months.

Ducks can lay every day for a while, but they all take a break at some point, usually when the weather starts getting cold and the days get shorter. Depending upon the breed, some will take longer breaks than others, but their breaks usually last at least several weeks.

I dont know if maLes NEED to breed every day to keep the eggs fertile. But it would certainly help, and they more than likely will. They are very enthusiastic when it comes to breeding. I read somewhere that eggs will be fertile up to 18 days after breeding. So I'm sure it's possible for multiple males to fertilize her eggs. The only sure way to get non mixed ducklings is to separate the pairs together for at least two to three weeks before collecting eggs to hatch. The different breeds should all get along alright, but everyone will breed everyone, lol.

That's about all I got for ya

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have no experience with muscovies, so I'll skip those questions. Maybe @Miss Lydia or @learycow can help. I know they have muscovies. My males started getting interested in the girls at about 4-6 months old, and the girls started laying about that time too. My mallard girls are eight months old and still haven't laid, but my other ducks all started around four months.

Ducks can lay every day for a while, but they all take a break at some point, usually when the weather starts getting cold and the days get shorter. Depending upon the breed, some will take longer breaks than others, but their breaks usually last at least several weeks.

I dont know if maLes NEED to breed every day to keep the eggs fertile. But it would certainly help, and they more than likely will. They are very enthusiastic when it comes to breeding. I read somewhere that eggs will be fertile up to 18 days after breeding. So I'm sure it's possible for multiple males to fertilize her eggs. The only sure way to get non mixed ducklings is to separate the pairs together for at least two to three weeks before collecting eggs to hatch. The different breeds should all get along alright, but everyone will breed everyone, lol.

That's about all I got for ya

You did really good too @PotatoWaffles I can speak for Muscovy's My Scovy usually don't lay till 8-9 months old and are seasonal so they lay late winter-early spring till early fall usually late Sept to early Oct then they take the winter off. You may find you need more females generally the rule is 3-4 females to each drake just to keep the girls from being over bred. And unless you want purebred ducklings from your Muscovy's I wouldn't worry about them all being together. As long as you have plenty of room because those drakes can get pretty rowdy with each other if confined. If your Scovy's mate with any of the other drakes they will have a clutch of sterile ducklings and those ducklings won't reproduce I see it as birth control management. Let us know how it goes with introductions. @nelleyoukai

I'd set up an area where your new girls are separate but all can see an interact through fencing this may take up to a week. It takes time for resident ducks to accept new members.