aggressive drake & chickens

Hmm, I would say you want the new girls to be as close to full size as you can manage, just so he doesn't accidentally hurt them while trying to mate and also so they can stand up for themselves during the initial squabbles. As for how long the pecking order takes, that all depends on the individual birds. I've introduced ducks to each other several times, and once it went flawlessly and everybody was pals in a day, while another time it took literally weeks. Amiga has a good thread around here somewhere where she documented the introduction of two groups of ducks. You could read that and see if it helps. The best thing to do is just to monitor the situation closely. And as for getting mature birds, I would try your local craigslist, maybe put up a wanted flyer in your local feed store, or maybe see if there's a livestock auction near you. Otherwise, you could get some sexed ducklings. They do grow fast

 

I would either remove him from having access to the chickens or remove the chickens so they don't have access to him. This is actually a very common problem with drakes mating with chickens and can result in death of the chicken.

Ducks are flock animals and are not monogamous, so yes a 1:1 ratio is not the best .. i do have some of my Muscovy that have a slight pairing that said i definitely provide excess to avoid over stressing the female duck.

It's usually said at least 3-4 ducks PER drake. To give an idea i have 2 drakes and 8 females.. i am increasing that to 5 females later this spring and possibly a few more, if i get some from my hatch due next week.

Now aging, I've done it a few ways.. i bought some ducks that were within 2mths aging of what i currently had, i have hatched out young here so they grew up into the flock and i have bought duckling at 2-3wks old that have also grown into the flock. The drakes are just now picking who they want from the newest additions from last year... the younger three not quite ready to be part of that dynamic [email protected] only 7mth.

The best way i intro birds IF there is no mama, is to have them penned where they have access to talk and see the older birds, i continue this for awhile to ensure the newbies are doing well and capable of handling the stress of a flock change over, you must always be prepared that the newcomers may need to be removed again if attacks are over the top, some pecking order behaviour is normal but you'll know when it's just too much..

Also the quarantine issue comes into play as well, especially with older birds.. now fortunately, ducks have less issues but still you want to ensure your not bringing any issues to your flock.

I generally prefer younger birds myself, but everyone experience is different... my newest ducks coming late spring will be ducklings, and they will transition in as i have done many a time before.

Classified will probably help you find older birds, as well breeders could have some suitable. I definitely wouldn't just bring in one, at least two so they can well, have each other so a singular bird isn't without someone it knows or can at least share newbie status with.

 

there would be no point in getting another drake then for your female pekin because all drakes will be like this they need 2-4 females so it will be the same