3 Females, 3 Males or 2 Females and 1 Male?

[mrs.carlypalmer]

Hello! We are looking to add 3 ducks to our home. I have narrowed down my breeds, but I am wondering what the best gender scenario is.
1. Obviously, with 3 females, you get eggs! This is not necessary for me, but a perk.
2. With females and male, you have fertilized eggs. Are these okay to be eaten?
3. I have close neighbors, so I also like the idea of having "quieter" drakes. Plus, I am always attracted to the male colorings! But would 3 drakes fight one another?

So share with me any pros/cons to an all female or all male flock!

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

If you could bump it up to 4 i would get 3 Females and 1 male.

 

[mrs.carlypalmer]

I can only have three What would recommend in that case?

 

[ButteCA]

You can eat fertile eggs. Some people say it’s better for you. if you are going to have a mix of three and you want both genders get a male and two female. I don’t know if two males would fight over one female like a chicken but I’m assuming this is a part of every animals nature.

 

[sannabelle]

Even a 1 male to 2 female ratio will be hard for the girls. Drakes are not kind to their “mates” and will overbreed them and potentially injure them.

If you’re not wanting to breed them for ducklings I would get three females. You could look into some magpie ducks I may be biased but their coloring is my favorite. Like little Holstein cow ducks!

 

[sannabelle]

And an all male flock would most likely result in fighting. Larger drakes have been known to try and mate smaller drakes which can fatally injure them sorry!

 

[Pyxis]

Depending on the personalities of the ducks, three females, two females and a male or three males can all work fine.

If you go with a male and two females and you don't want babies, you can just take the eggs. Fertile eggs are edible and you can't tell the difference

It's possible that a male would be too hard on two females, but also maybe not. They can do fine in pairs or trios if the male isn't overly aggressive. I have a pair that consists of a pekin and a welsh harlequin that have been together for years with no issues. I also keep Call ducks in pairs all the time with no problems. This route will also allow you to hatch ducklings down the line, if that's something you might be interested in, or possibly selling the fertile eggs as hatching eggs to recoup some of the costs of keeping them.

You could get a drake of a smaller breed than the females to help ensure things go smoothly - if they're bigger than he is, they'll have an easier time telling him no if he's being pushy.

All three males could work - I kept just a pair of drakes for years and they did well together. There was no fighting, since there were no girls to squabble over. They did take their hormones out on each other and try to pin each other down, so if you go this route you want to make sure you get all breeds of similar size to prevent anyone from getting injured. A size disparity can lead to the smaller one getting injured during these pinning matches.

And all three girls will work too. More eggs, of course. Females will also try to breed with each other if they don't have males around. Ducks aren't particularly picky about gender when it comes to mating. And of course females are louder than males.

 

[MROO]

If you want some color in your flock, you don't need to go with all boys. Check out the Magpies and Anconas if you want splash-spotted ducks. Orpingtons are a very pretty buff and Cayugas are all black. Saxonies have a pretty mix, too. There are an awful lot of "Ladies of Color" out there if you look around!