Age of Breeding call ducks?

[AliciaM]

For those of you who have been breeding call ducks for a few years, can you tell me at what age do the males stop breeding? At what age is a male call duck considered old?

Same question for females... At what age do they stop laying? When are females considered old?

What do you do with your older breeding birds?

 

[AliciaM]

Im just posting now to bring it back to the top...

 

[jbourget]

depends some ducks are vigorous right till the end. I have a 9 year old snowy drake that gets the job done better then most of my ducks. Then again there are younger stronger ones that dont show the vigor needed to breed the hens. I find greys are good with breeding and i give them 4 or 5 hens per drake but not other colors. It all depends on if your getting non fertile eggs. then it will become a problem. Swap aroudn your drake to find who isnt fertile and get them moved out of your breeding program.


Good luck

 

[AliciaM]

Thanks for the reply.. The duck in question is an older male I got because he wasnt doing so good out with the rest of the ducks and his feathers werent repelling water...So I got him and put him in a raised pen where he is out of the weather and has a heat lamp.. I just put one of my girls in with him and will wait and see... Shes a bit bigger than him, but im hoping that once breeding season hits, he will get in the mood and attempt..If not, and if his feathers get better, he will just become a babysitter/pet...