3 Drakes 1 Female....

[marcialea80]

Hi, I am not sure what to do. We have 3 drakes and 1 female duck. I have read that the male ducks will rape my female until she dies. Is this true? My concern is...I have also heard that if we get rid of all the ducks except the female she will die also because there has to be 2.

We also just got our first duck egg today. I am not sure what the best route will be to make sure my female stays safe and keeps laying eggs.

We have a mallard, and then the female mallard (sorry do not know the correct name) and then 2 male khaki campbells.

Thank you

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

Could you possibly get more females? Because this will be very dangerous for her to have to face 3 drakes everyday.

 

[EverythingDucks]

She won't die if she's alone but she will be lonely. Is it possible to get some more females and/or re-home some of the males? Ideally you should have one drake (males) per three ducks. Or you could have an all drake flock.

 

[Duckduck_Guz]

I too have the same problem and have been searching here for answers. We have 10 males to 7 females now, it was 5. I cant seem to find a clear answer either, other than to get rid of the males or increase your flock with females to outnumber them. I am having a hard time getting someone that WANTS more males. Maybe if there is a thread on here of people trying to get rid of ducks or trade males for females and vice versa, that may be more helpful than us duck owners having to make the hard decision of sending them to the block, which is my last resort only to save my females.

 

[EverythingDucks]

If you wanted to keep them all you could add another female or two (or more) and keep them separate until you have a good ratio.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

In my experience, drakes don’t mate for sexual reasons but for dominance. My current drake has five girls yet he picks on one. She has never been his favorite, in fact she was my other drake’s girl before I got rid of him. Anyway, I would separate and consider rehoming the two Khaki drakes and see how it goes with just the mallard pair. If she starts to have feathers missing on her neck or shows other signs of overmating, then start looking for more females. If that were to happen I wouldn’t expect it until the spring when hormones rise. Btw, I would not expect those first eggs to be fertile. Eat them, duck eggs are fabulous!

 

[sourland]

In my experience, drakes don’t mate for sexual reasons but for dominance. My current drake has five girls yet he picks on one. She has never been his favorite, in fact she was my other drake’s girl before I got rid of him. Anyway, I would separate and consider rehoming the two Khaki drakes and see how it goes with just the mallard pair. If she starts to have feathers missing on her neck or shows other signs of overmating, then start looking for more females. If that were to happen I wouldn’t expect it until the spring when hormones rise. Btw, I would not expect those first eggs to be fertile. Eat them, duck eggs are fabulous!

Excellent suggestions.