Adding Black Cayugas

[FoxsDucks]

First off, I am new to BYC and new to raising ducks. After seeing the cute little ducklings for a couple of seasons at TSC, we decided to get a few TSC ducks this year and now have 4 muscovies and 6 of the brown ones. I think they are Khaki Campbells, but suppose that time will tell. At this point I believe they are all about 8 weeks old, going from my (un)educated guess and pictures of other ducks.

Our local feed store (not TSC) is still taking orders for chicks and ducks. They will allow small orders and I am considering ordering 4 black cayuga ducklings (1 drake and 3 hens? Is that a good combination?) because I really like the look of the black ducks. If I were to order the cayugas, these ducklings would be delivered April 27th.

Given that the age of the ducks we already have would be 10-12 weeks at that point, is this an OK idea or would the much younger ducklings be in danger from the older ducks? The 10 ducks we have now all get along very well. At this moment they are all sleeping on one big pile in their house near the heat lamp. (I have a tv camera set up in the house to keep an eye on things.)

After a very failed attempt at combining older and younger rabbits a few years ago I want to get a feel for how good an idea this might be. We do not have any other pets at this point.

Thanks!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

hello! Welcome to our community!
And congratulations on joining in on the joy and insanity of owning ducks.
I am afraid you may have a hard time with the introduction due to the age of your older ducks starting to come into their hormones about that time.
I would for sure plan on having a set up to where they can see each other for a while without being able to harm each other and gradually move on from that to supervised play time until you are sure they are going to behave.
Probably also depends on how many drakes you already have.
@Miss Lydia
Anything to add regarding the muscovies? Are they easy going usually?

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are easy going but still think it's a good idea to have the newest separated with some kind of fencing when you first take them outside to meet the older ones. You'll be able to tell what a size difference when you get your newest. Muscovies are awesome ducks friendly[love the tail wag]

Adorable avatar

 

[FoxsDucks]

Yes, our muscovies are very friendly!

That's what I was concerned about with getting the black cayugas so I will have to give this a little thought. Maybe we will just wait until next spring.