Advice Needed Concerning Ducks:

TheDuckLover

Chirping
Dec 15, 2018
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Hello, I ordered a straight run of 4 ducklings around 6 months ago and 3 if the four turned out to be male. Now these ducklings are nearing laying time (or at least the female) and I don't know what to do with the males. All 3 if the males are amazing show ducks for my kids, sweet, and overall friendly! But, I am keeping a close eye on the female to make sure the males don't overwhelm her. I'm not sure if I can separate them, leaving the female and 1 male in one coop while keeping the others in another coop. If that would be ok, then can I alternate the male position with the female so I can get a variety of ducklings? So sorry for the rush of information and questions, but all of my research doesn't give a definite answer, so I wanted to get advice from experience. Thank you in advance! (Also, I have read that 2 male ducks can coexist in peace together if there is no female, even more so if they were raised together from birth. Is that true?)

- TheDuckLover:)
 
You're going to have to separate them. I know you want to keep all the boys and I like your idea of alternating the males with her but I think that will even be too much for that one girl once full-blown spring gets here and the hormones are raging.

Last spring I had 6 girls to 1 boy and I still had to make a drake jail for that 1 boy! He had all 6 girl's neck feathers torn out. I had blu-kote everywhere including on me! Now I've got 8 girls and 3 boys and I'm planning on your alternation method which will be a pain but like you, I would like to keep all my boys if possible.

As far as drakes being together nicely if they'd been together from birth, that's not always true. My first hatch produced 2 beautiful sweet drakes who were like peas in a pod. They were always together until one day one of them just snapped and started attacking his brother constantly so he had to go. I put an ad on Craig's list and found him a good home.
 
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You're going to have to separate them. I know you want to keep all the boys and I like your idea of alternating the males with her but I think that will even be too much for that one girl once full-blown spring gets here and the hormones are raging.

Last spring I had 6 girls to 1 boy and I still had to make a drake jail for that 1 boy! He had all 6 girl's neck feathers torn out. I had blu-kote everywhere including on me! Now I've got 8 girls and 3 boys and I'm planning on your alternation method which will be a pain but like you, I would like to keep all my boys if possible.

As far as drakes being together nicely if they'd been together from birth, that's not always true. My first hatch produced 2 beautiful sweet drakes who were like peas in a pod. They were always together until one day one of them just snapped and started attacking his brother constantly so he had to go. I put an ad on Craig's list and found him a good home.

Thank you so much for your help, and I do agree and think that getting rid of the males is going to be the only safe options for the female. Also, yes, blu-kote is a lifesaver! Thanks again!
 
I'm in the same boat, so you're definitely not alone. Out of my 6 straight run ducks, 4 are drakes. The 2 girls and 2 of the drakes are 23 weeks old and the other 2 drakes are 22 weeks old. So far, the girls are always flirting with the boys, and they welcome the advances and attempts from the boys. Only 2 of the drakes seem to be mature and they're actually the younger ones, but the other 2 are Pekins and I'm not sure if they mature later since they are heavy breeds or what. I am keeping a very close eye on all of them. None of my ducks like me so alternating isn't an option for me. I'm lucky to get them to come off the pond at night. Regardless, it's still going to be heartbreaking to have to part with them.
 
Hi sorry to jump on this post but I have a moscovy that has face and beak injury was quite bad so vets put him on pain meds but today I've noticed he's poop is 3 different types o e is white liquid the other is bright yellow liquid and the min one that's concerning me is the dark green almost back poop like tar is this normal for a moscovy on pain meds or do I need to take him back to vets? I have a feeling it might be an infection but not actually sure as I've been reading about it today and there's loads of different opinions on this colour so very unsure now. Thank you
 
Could be the meds they can upset tummy. I'd call the vet and tell them what your seeing and they can give you the best info.
Do they also have him on antibiotics? How is his wounds looking?
:welcome
 
As a new duck owner 18 months ago, having purchased a straight run of ducklings (first mistake) which turned out to be seven drakes and six ducks, I really struggled with what to do with the excess drakes. When they were six months old, I gave five drakes to a local farm family to eat. I didn't want them to go to people who didn't know how to care for them. I kept two drakes and (second mistake) kept the two largest, flashiest drakes. All last summer I kept one drake in separate housing within sight and sound of the flock and he would forage with them every day...with supervision. By November I was able to house him together with the whole flock again and he was fine and happy to be back with the flock. The two drakes never really fought, it was simply my concern that they would injure or kill the ducks with overmating. I knew I had to face getting rid of the second drake by February this year. It was too cold for him to live separately (I live in northern VT) and spring hormones were starting to take effect by last week. At his age, he was too old to be palatable (my mistake number three) and I was unable to find anyone who wanted to use this gorgeous purebred Silver Appleyard drake for breeding. This week I took him to a nature center that rehabilitates raptors to be used to feed the injured raptors. It was very difficult to do but, I knew he would be killed humanely and they would put his carcass to good use. I had no place to kill him myself without the flock seeing and, with the pond frozen, no place to leave his carcass without attracting predators. I know I made the right decision for the flock. I never wanted any of the ducks to be injured or killed through overmating. Keep in mind your main goal and know that no decision, or waiting, is in fact a decision with consequences.
 

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