Aggressive male ducks

[Diana81276]

My son received four baby ducks as a "present" two Easters ago. They wound up being two males and two females, who had nine babies this summer. We gave most the babies away to a petting farm, but decided to keep two females, which brings our count up to four females and two males. We knew our ratio was skewed (although the original four always got along) and wanted more eggs, so this seemed like a good idea. It isn't working out very well so far. The males HATE the new females, even though the babies were raised close to them. When we put everyone together, the males immediately start chasing and pecking the young females and trying to breed them (the babies are about there months old, fully grown but not sexually mature). The end result is always terrified new females, so at the moment they are still separated. However, this really can't last. It gets cold here in the winters and we only have one heated coop. My husband has stated he is not building another coop, so I'm not sure what to do. Will they ever learn to get along, or do we need to lose a few ducks? I'd rather not, my son is very attached to them, but I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks for the help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My son received four baby ducks as a "present" two Easters ago. They wound up being two males and two females, who had nine babies this summer. We gave most the babies away to a petting farm, but decided to keep two females, which brings our count up to four females and two males. We knew our ratio was skewed (although the original four always got along) and wanted more eggs, so this seemed like a good idea. It isn't working out very well so far. The males HATE the new females, even though the babies were raised close to them. When we put everyone together, the males immediately start chasing and pecking the young females and trying to breed them (the babies are about there months old, fully grown but not sexually mature). The end result is always terrified new females, so at the moment they are still separated. However, this really can't last. It gets cold here in the winters and we only have one heated coop. My husband has stated he is not building another coop, so I'm not sure what to do. Will they ever learn to get along, or do we need to lose a few ducks? I'd rather not, my son is very attached to them, but I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks for the help.

Your young females are not old enough to be with hormonal drakes yet, not till laying age. Can you make a separate space for the 2 young females? for a time. That can be using some plastic poultry fencing for outside and a large dog crate for inside. Having them live side by side and giving them time to mature maybe all that is needed so when they can all be together things are much calmer. and during winter mating season calms down anyway. What breed of duck are you talking about? You def need more than 2 females for your 2 drakes so try and stick it out a month and let the young ones mature and the drakes begin to settle down from mating season.

Welcome to BYC

 

[Diana81276]

Thanks for the info! They are a mix of Swedish and Kaki Campbell, although one baby hatched out crested and white, so there might be a little Pekin mixed in.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the info! They are a mix of Swedish and Kaki Campbell, although one baby hatched out crested and white, so there might be a little Pekin mixed in.

Sounds like a nice mix, post some pics when you can we love to see pics..