3 ducks question

[Robbie3]

Ok so I have 3 ducks. Two Pekins, one Mallard. They are approximately 5 months old. I have had to separate the hen from the males because the mating issue. I have more female ducklings on the way. Anyway, is my female gonna be ok being separated alone, even though she can see the boys? I worry because she’s the only one

 

[RJKnott]

I had to separate my female pekin from my male when she had an injured foot for a few days. She was a bit moody but so long as she could see the male she was pretty good. I also made a point to spend a lot of 1x1 time with her

 

[Robbie3]

Thank you

 

[nao57]

It may help that some people say that pekings start mating and laying eggs later than other ducks.

For me, my pekings are 8 months old. And they haven't started laying yet. And I'd cut down on the number of males but the remaining peking male is also slow to be aggressive about mating. He's letting the smaller runner drake take over.

So it might be that yours will follow this pattern. But its also true that I don't know if yours will be different than mine.

I would guess that you might have about 2 more months to figure it out if your pekings are following a similar time window as mine. Plus, in extreme heat that may slow a few more extra days.

 

[Robbie3]

Ok thank you. I don’t notice a constant picking at my female but occasional. I’m keeping my eye on them and separating them. I notice one of my Pekins seems to have coupled up with my mallard. He was laying on opposite side of run but right up next to her.

 

[LT71689]

A lot of folks say that if you keep all males they can do okay, but once you introduce a female they can start fighting each other - this may be true even if they cant physically get to her, just seeing her and knowing shes nearby might set them off to start competing for her if they're ready to start mating. They cant reason "there's no point in us trying to kill each other when neither of us can actually reach her right now anyway." I might be a little bit more worried about the two males having any kind of access near her than her going solo.

when you say you have ducklings on the way, do you mean brand new babies? They're gonna take a while to catch up to your 5mos olds and be safe getting introduced to your drakes when you're ready to reintegrate the whole group, and might not be able to be left with her in the meantime either, depending on how she feels about them. you might have three separate groups for a spell

I think she'd be okay alone for a little while. You dont want to keep a single duck that spends its entire ~10 years of life completely alone but people need to separate their ducks for injuries and illness and whatnot all the time, in the short-term she should be alright (and of course some extra attention from you couldnt hurt)

 

[Robbie3]

Ok. That helps a lot. Thank you. I do have new ducklings on the way and realize I will have to separate them as well.

 

[nao57]

You know I just thought of something.

I'm guessing that whether or not they are fine with each other or start fighting each other etc may also have to do if they are nest mates from the same duckling egg brooder time period.

Mine were like this. But some of the people that had them fight probably didn't gorw up together.

 

[Robbie3]

Mine all have grown up together and get along great, just starting to notice the mating behaviors