Flock Building

[DuckTapePalace]

Our Ancona drakes have been really into our Black Swedish ladies…to the point that they will pursue them through the whole garden. It’s happened a few times that one of the ladies will be separated from the flock and I recently spied one who had been sitting alone for quite a long time and was stressed when I approached her (usually she is cool as a cucumber). We recently picked up 3 Cayuga’s hoping to make more black ducks available but were also kind of hoping for a drake so they might feel safe. Now at about 3 weeks, based on the shapes of their tails and their size, it’s looking like we ended up with 2 drakes and not one. Yikes! Already our ratio didn’t seem quite big enough but now it will be skewed more. I would hate to have to find something else to do with any of our boys but that’s what we’re looking at.

At this point, would it be wise to pick up more ducklings, hoping they’re all ladies? I saw that 4/drake is ideal and even if we only have 2 we would only have 6. It hasn’t been a problem except for the issue of separating the twins which I don’t like for safety reasons.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I don’t know if I can have new babies in with 3 week old ducks. We really weren’t trying to grow our flock by too much.

Maybe not the most clear shots of their tails but this is from just before more of their feathers have started coming in. The smallest one has the broad tail and the other two are larger with a more pointed tail.

 

[Miss Lydia]

New ducklings and 3 week old wouldn't be good to start out the little ones could be trampled and picked on, best to introduce over several days to give the youngest a better chance of getting their legs under them .
I always have a better chance of guessing sex by voice are you hearing any honk peeps yet? sometimes you can pick them up and walk way for the others and hear a honk peep.
One drake to even 3 females can work it really depends on the drake but the main thing is when we have multiple drakes they will tend to work together on a female and that is when injury can happen here anyway. One on top the other chewing the face. Or even ganging up in the pool on a single female.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

New ducklings and 3 week old wouldn't be good to start out the little ones could be trampled and picked on, best to introduce over several days to give the youngest a better chance of getting their legs under them .
I always have a better chance of guessing sex by voice are you hearing any honk peeps yet? sometimes you can pick them up and walk way for the others and hear a honk peep.
One drake to even 3 females can work it really depends on the drake but the main thing is when we have multiple drakes they will tend to work together on a female and that is when injury can happen here anyway. One on top the other chewing the face. Or even ganging up in the pool on a single female.

Good point about the babies. I may reconsider any more ducks.

A little bit by voice. They’re all still pretty squeaky but that’s a good test idea. I feel like I’ve heard a couple more honks but hard to tell who.

The largest one has really started picking on the little one and her incoming feathers, the other one gives her less of a hard time. It tries to bite at both other’s legs when they’re swimming. I don’t want a bully in my flock. Commander Swann started this type of behavior when our weakest duck started having serious problems (she is no longer with us).

 

[DuckTapePalace]

New ducklings and 3 week old wouldn't be good to start out the little ones could be trampled and picked on, best to introduce over several days to give the youngest a better chance of getting their legs under them .
I always have a better chance of guessing sex by voice are you hearing any honk peeps yet? sometimes you can pick them up and walk way for the others and hear a honk peep.
One drake to even 3 females can work it really depends on the drake but the main thing is when we have multiple drakes they will tend to work together on a female and that is when injury can happen here anyway. One on top the other chewing the face. Or even ganging up in the pool on a single female.

The little one we thought was a girl just did a honk when I took them out of the tub!

 

[Miss Lydia]

When new pin feathers are coming for some reason duckling will peck at each other.There seems to always be a bully in the crowd. Hopefully he/she will out grow it.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

When new pin feathers are coming for some reason duckling will peck at each other.There seems to always be a bully in the crowd. Hopefully he/she will out grow it.

I hope so too… i just noticed some bleeding so I now I need to keep her safe but not alone while she grows. :/ oh boy. None of other flock has ever been this picky! Always an adventure with these birds.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They sure keep us on our toes. lol
Keep us updated.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

They sure keep us on our toes. lol
Keep us updated.

We’ve sectioned them off within their new set up so the larger two can’t get to the little one (Macha). I had hoped to get them outside earlier like the twins but the weather keeps getting chilly and not if they’re going to pick at her when i can’t be around. Maybe it would work if they’re in separate areas with clear visibility.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It's always good to keep them where they can still see each other just not be able to pick on one.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

For some reason Macha doesn’t hold her wings in tight like the others. Probably why she is an easy target. Angel wing I think.