Will my dorky adolesent drakes hurt my (chicken) hens?

[tabatha_westcott]

I have 2 runner drakes (I think) Who will not leave my chickens or eachother alone. There's a lot of unwanted "loving" going on here. Should I just let them work things out on their own? I have no female ducks, just my chickens who at first didn't seem to mind (would even squat for the drakes) but now they hide all day only to come out to eat and then they get attacked again by the drakes...

 

[rainplace]

It looks like they are already hurting your hens, and that your hens have worked it out by hiding from the boys.

Can you separate out the boys? Maybe you can get rid of one and pick up two or three female ducks. Or keep them both and get six female ducks. Or figure out who the instigator drake is and get rid of him.

 

[FenDruadin]

Yes, they will. I learned this the hard way by losing a favorite duck hen before I realized what was happening.

Drakes need lots of females each, or they will pick one or two females or even a chicken to torment with their randiness.

I second the suggestion to get rid of one drake and get several females for the other--at least two, preferably three or four.

Your chickens will thank you!

 

[Duck Keeper]

Hopefully they don't think chickens are ducks though, or you might not be able to break them of their 'habit' just by giving them females.

They'd still see the chickens as ducks instead of chickens.