My Male Mallard Mated With My Other Male?

[Tay's Ducks]

I have 3 mallards (2 drakes and hen) and since the summer both boys mate with the hen in the pool. The strangest thing happened today and this is the first time that we’ve seen it happen. One of our male mallards got on top of the other male in the pool and did exactly what he usually does to the hen when he mates with her. Has anyone else ever seen this or have this happen with their ducks? It didn’t look like the male was trying to drown or show dominance to the other male. It literally looked like he was doing exactly what he normally does with the hen.

 

[CarleeAnn]

Establishing dominance. I believe this is what others call “the Peking order”? Normal behavior, like how male dogs will mount one another (or anything really...). No worries! But your drake to hen ratio may need some adjusting if they start to get frisky, I think it’s a suggested 2-3 hens per drake.

 

[fawndane]

Establishing dominance.

X2

 

[1995ImpalaSS]

Establishing dominance. I believe this is what others call “the Peking order”? Normal behavior, like how male dogs will mount one another (or anything really...). No worries! But your drake to hen ratio may need some adjusting if they start to get frisky, I think it’s a suggested 2-3 hens per drake.

We would get more hens but they’re too loud.

 

[CarleeAnn]

We would get more hens but they’re too loud.

Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t mate her at the same time because this could lead to drowning, injury, or death. You may have to rehome one of the males in the future if they become competitive and aggressive. I don’t think it is the season for this behavior but you can never be too cautious!

 

[CayugaJana]

I have a Pekin female who is very loud but my cayuga females mostly make clucking type noises and the loud quacking is few and far between.

And to be quite honest, males will breed with anything that moves lol. Keep an eye on your hen in the spring as CarleeAnn said, they can kill her by overbreeding. Best of luck to you and .

 

[chickens really]

That is normal behaviour...Not dominance..Ducks are sexual and don't really care who is who..My Call Drake would always breed my Appleyard Drake and sometimes my Hens do it too....You might have to separate the one Drake during breeding season or get rid of the Hen?
Best of luck...

 

[GeoGreyWolf]

I have noticed so far now that one of my Pekins is louder than the other and my Swedish is not loud at all. Adding more hens might help from everything I read, maybe looking into a different breed of duck? I am however still new to all this, everything I am learning is coming from here and the Storey book.

 

[pamelajean]

I only have 3 ducks, no drakes, and caught one of them mating another one the other day. I guess its just a dominance thing...