All Pekin Drakes, No Hens

[me lately]

The goal of getting ducks was for duck eggs, however our first sojourn into duck keeping has resulted in all four of our ducks being males. The farm store we picked them up from couldn't sex them, but thought they probably were picking females. We naively thought we could get 4 ducks and the odds of some/most of them being female were okay So, now we have 4 five month old Pekin drakes that are jockeying more and more with each other for alpha rank and also seem to grow in angst with each week.

Any suggestions for adopting them out?

 

[sourland]

and good luck in resolving this.

 

[gointothebirdsfarm]

Welcome to BYC! Maybe advertise around...I don't know about your area, but sometimes around here we may have lost a male or they turned aggressive, and need a new one for our hens. Try advertising on Facebook, Craigslist, etc. Best wishes!!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

why not keep them? i used to have a drake flock and they were super sweet and loving. next time i get ducks i want just boys again

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

why not keep them? i used to have a drake flock and they were super sweet and loving. next time i get ducks i want just boys again

Said they wanted eggs and they were being aggressive.

 

[LT71689]

What kind of set up do you have them in? Do they have enough room to separate and sorta blow off steam by themselves for a while? You absolutely positively dont have a secret female in there that they're competing for?

If they must go, you've got lots of options (depending on where you're located) Craigslist, Facebook groups, Petfinder. ask around/advertise at local farm supply/feed stores, etc.

 

[me lately]

What kind of set up do you have them in? Do they have enough room to separate and sorta blow off steam by themselves for a while? You absolutely positively dont have a secret female in there that they're competing for?

If they must go, you've got lots of options (depending on where you're located) Craigslist, Facebook groups, Petfinder. ask around/advertise at local farm supply/feed stores, etc.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Chirping. Their pen is 8' x 8' with a house attached that is 4' x 6'. My understanding from Storey's Guide and some online research is that is plenty of room? We've wondered the same about one of them being a female and that being part of the problem, but they all four have the tell-tale drake feather.

 

[Ratchnick]

Take this as a learning opportunity and have them butchered. Once you have a way to solve the drake problem the real fun can start (you can hatch babies)

 

[me lately]

Take this as a learning opportunity and have them butchered. Once you have a way to solve the drake problem the real fun can start (you can hatch babies)

We've considered the same. Not hatching more, but having them be meat ducks and taking them to someone who'll butcher, maybe teach us how to. Never looked into having livestock dispatched for meat before. If we don't end up finding a flock/s for them to join, that will be the direction we go.

 

[me lately]

Checking in with a happy update that all 4 of my drakes have been adopted! Posted an ad on Craigslist a little over two weeks ago. Through that ad, I was able to re-home 1 who went to a family that had a male/female Pekin pair and they lost their male so were in need of another. The other 3 were adopted today to go live in the mountains on a property with a pond. Really couldn't have turned out better!