Any help is better than none.

[Royston8791]

Right before I start this is all very new to me and i'm only going by what I have read online so excuse my stupidity if it pops up. So my friend ( it really is a friend ) decides to get some ducks about 6 to be exact and I got the task of helping look after them nothing wrong there they all seemed fine and setteled. Then he gets another 7 from the same person a few weeks later and thought they would be ok and get along, so the day comes these 7 ducks come in and thats it they stay at one side the others over the other end and don't seem to get on, but they all look like there challenging one another. I'm going to assume its some sort of Alpha of the pack thing you know one leader so after that they have all been fine until few weeks ago I went to let them out and only 12 came out one was layed there motionless. I checked for any signs of it looking like something had got at it during the night but wasn't any.Now same has happened again a few days ago only 11 came out. So is it true you have to have a certain ratio males to females and do ducks do this sort of thing to one another. To be honest I can't tell the female from the males and the ducks get well looked after fresh water everyday and plenty of feed i also clean them oiut everyday just to make sure. Any help at all would really be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mylied]

If they are grown, you tell them apart by their voice. Females loudly quack. Males have a quieter raspy sound. Males get a curled tail feather too. Too many males can hurt females. Being different flocks, especially if adults, can cause fights.

 

[007Sean]

How big is the coop/pen? What's the age difference between the two groups. Can you maybe post some pics, of both coop/pen and ducks, it would help in rendering you a accurate answer.

 

[chickens really]

If they have too many Drakes they possibly are ganging up one the Hens to breed them. That could be the issue.