1 male 1 female duck, 6 chickens helpppp

[jobyducks]

Hello! I'm new posting here, I usually just lurk in the forums. I do have some specific questions now that my ducks are older and I am 95% sure one of my ducks is a boy. I guess the other could be too, but I'm not sure. I'll post pictures in a moment.

Do I need to separate the ducks from the chickens? I know duck mating is rough, and I've heard horror stories about ducks breaking the chickens necks, etc from trying to breed with them. I don't want to because they are all best friends. Ugh. Also, I will need to build a duck house obviously (so if you have any easy/cheap DIY duck house ideas send em this way as well)

If it is one male/one female, do I need to separate them? Do I HAVE to get 2 more females?
What if they are both male, do they need to be separated from each other?

Thanks in advance... any additional help you can offer would be much appreciated. I am so depressed my baby is a drake

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The brown one with the curly tail feather is a drake.

He should also have developed a whisper instead of a quack?? That is one of the tell tell signs. Does you Pekin quack loudly or whisper?

No matter how many female ducks you get it may not impact whether or not the drake will be attracted to and try to mate with the chickens. It could even be a pecking order display. We personally decided we would not keep ducks if we weren't able to separate any drakes from our chickens.

Cute flock!

 

[jobyducks]

The brown one with the curly tail feather is a drake.

He should also have developed a whisper instead of a quack?? That is one of the tell tell signs. Does you Pekin quack loudly or whisper?

No matter how many female ducks you get it may not impact whether or not the drake will be attracted to and try to mate with the chickens. It could even be a pecking order display. We personally decided we would not keep ducks if we weren't able to separate any drakes from our chickens.

Cute flock!

They both actually quack loudly! The only reason I realized he was a drake today was because his head was SUPER green, almost like it happened overnight lol then I noticed the tail feather. I always thought the white one was going to be a drake, not the other way around. Hmmm... I'll have to figure out what to do.

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

Yeah, the brown one is a drake and I’m not too sure about the white one the tail feathers kinda look curled but may not be. Does the white one have the female quack?

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. The real problem with drakes breeding chicken hens is that drakes have a penis, and roosters do not. The chicken hen reproductive tract is not designed for the insertion on 'objects', and mating by drakes can cause chicken hens to prolapse. I'd recommend starting on a plan B to separate the chickens from the ducks.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Can you take a video of them quacking?
If so you will need to upload it elsewhere fist before posting here - you tube, vimeo, Facebook, etc.
I agree with what Sourland and Eggsighted has stated drakes are not good to have around chickens. It never turns out well.

 

[jobyducks]

Can you take a video of them quacking?
If so you will need to upload it elsewhere fist before posting here - you tube, vimeo, Facebook, etc.
I agree with what Sourland and Eggsighted has stated drakes are not good to have around chickens. It never turns out well.

Here a a couple short clips of them quacking:
https://vimeo.com/user87077185

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

They are both drakes. Here’s a video on what ducks sound like:

(not my video)

 

[jobyducks]

They are both drakes

So, what does that mean? I will separate them from the chickens, but will they fight each other? Will I need to get females for them?

 

[Quacking Pigeon]

They will most likely fight each other, but they seem to have a good relationship with each other, so they shouldn’t do it to often. And if you were to get ducks you have a risk of both of them having a favorite which they would mount over and over again leading to prolapse and blood on the back of the neck of the favorite.

@sourland
@Miss Lydia