Adding ducks.

[tmayk]

We have 3 runner ducks, a male and two female. They are not very social with us, which has been a great disappointment since our last ducks (Pekins) were quite social. We are considering getting 2 more to add to the duck flock. We are considering gettin a different breed though. Can we mix a new breed with the runners? I'm looking at a couple of sweet little call ducks, but am worried that the male runner with try to mate with them and perhaps injure them. We are also thinking maybe two pekins, but we would rather get a set of duck we already know to be female (the call ducks are full grown) than to add immature pekin (would have to be ducklings) risking another male in the flock... Any thoughts or suggestions? Is it very difficult to incorporate new members to a flock of ducks? Our current flock is around 6 to 8 months old.

 

[Kevin565]

1. I personally would never mix bantam ducks with larger breeds. Some people have but if you have a large drake it can cause some serious breeding damage.

2. Yes you can mix in other breeds with the runner.

3. You could brood the ducklings for awhile then mix them but having another male in that small of a flock could cause issues. Where have you been looking for birds? You might try craigslist or the BST section on BYC. You could also try petfinder to see if there's any ducks in your area that could be adopted.

 

[jdywntr]

I agree with Kevin.

You can get sexed ducklings. If you want a friendly breed than make sure to research that. Runners are typically a very skittish bird, Pekin are typically very friendly.

If you get ducklings, you will need to wait until they are at least 2-3 months old to integrate them. As with anything, introductions need to go slowly. If you get adults the intro will still need to go slowly and it is a very good idea to quarantine adults for at least 30 days.

 

[TLWR]

We had 2 runners. Hatched runners at school and kept one and ordered another runner and welsh harlequin. They were raised on the deck and then into the yard in their own temp pen.... where the other 2 girls could hear and see them. We introduced the new ones slowly. Always with them when they were out of their area and with the big girls and clsoe to the big girls to remove them if they got too rough.
They were eventually in the same house, but separated for a week or so and then we just said they had to figure out how to get along at night. They hemmed and hawed and got over it.
They pal around now, but when they split, the original 2 go on their way and the new 3 go another. But they do hang together quite a bit.