Are my girls in trouble??

[LilDucky85]

The other day I read that it may be dangerous to have too many males with females. I thought mine wouldn't have that problem since they depend on each other and are so close. I have just 2 girls, with 4 boys. Well, today I went out to feed them and was petting my 2 girls. Instead of running away with the flock they just stood there to drink, and seemed to enjoy me petting them. When I pet one of my girls I noticed a hard patch on the back of her neck. First I thought it was a dirty patch but then noticed it was sort of wrinkly. I looked closer and saw prickly new feathers growing in. At first I was very startled thinking she had burned herself on the heat bulb. There's no way she could actually get to it, but what else could it be? Then I see one of my favorite drakes crawl up and stand completely on my other girls backs to drink water. I pushed him off because she didnt fight back. Then I see him grab onto the feathers on the back of her neck. December 18, 2009 was when at least one of the girls started laying eggs. They were born on Easter Day in April so they are probably just starting to mate now. I really hate the idea of giving any of my babies up, but Im worried about my poor girls.

 

[TheDuckCrew]

just get more girls! lmao. normally 2 girls to every drake is a good place to been when you have multiple drakes.

 

[LilDucky85]

Oh jeeze...so thats what 6 more girls? No way lol, thats 12 ducks total! I wish it were 4 girls 2 boys! I love your picture! It reminds me of my ducky Sweetheart-King Tut! He is the one Im kissing in my photo.

 

[TK Poultry]

i have two girls per boy plus two extra girls..... i have 8 girls and 3 boys and it works out nicely

 

[tia]

I hope it works out for you. I've got 7 ducks and I've been getting 3 eggs a day for a while. I know one of the black runners is a male, but don't know about the other ducks. I haven't seen any trouble, but I'm worried it is going to start. I know how you feel it would be hard to get rid of any of them, and I think 7 is my limit. : ( I'm hoping mine will get along, or that I will have enough females to make it work.

 

[LilDucky85]

Quote:
Thank you, I'm glad you understand where I'm coming from. Right now all I can do is keep an eye on things and make sure they are okay. I wouldnt even know what to do if things get worse because its the middle of winter here, and I doubt anyone would want ducks right now. I might take her in tomorrow and check her out real good. Let me know if your ducks start up.

 

[TheDuckCrew]

last winter and spring, i had 3 boys and one girl. thankfully, we built their house after their pen and it could be separated via a board of wood for a door. we kept the female and the dominant male together, and then the two other males (the brothers) together. they would switch off on who got to go out and explore and swim. whoever was out got the house that night and were let into the connecting pen in the morning once the other two were out. we ended up building a makeshift day pen for the brothers with a pool because they wouldn't leave without the girl, and the dominant male would cry all day if you took her away. amazingly, the makeshift day pen ended up saving the brothers' lifes. the female was killed by a weasel after her eggs one morning, so the male stayed out all day in fear that whatever it was would go back into the pen and get him. we got home from an award ceremony for my sister after dark. the brothers were dead silent in their day pen, and feathers were strewn around the outside of the pen. a large bobcat and snuck up on the dominant male and killed him. the two brothers lived in perfect harmony together, occasionally tricking each other and fighting over the best pool in the summer (despite the pond in the yard. silly ducks!) until a raccoon dug into the pen and killed Lucy, one of the brothers. Toby managed to survive. he just received his little female friend this week! he loves her. When i had all four of my ducks, i couldn't bring myself to sell the two brothers. i tried hatching the females eggs in hopes that i would end up getting some females for the twins, but none of them hatched. hopefully everything works out for you!

 

[fowlmood]

Unless you can seperate them into different pens and get more females, you will have more trouble. With four males and only two females, your hens will be getting over mated and the males will become aggressive toward each other too. I know to us it looks terrible to watch them "almost drown" our female ducks, but in reality, they are doing what comes natural to them. I don't think you're going to be able to stop that natural urge to mate.

Sorry, for sounding so pessimistic...hope all works out o.k.

 

[TK Poultry]

ive only every had trouble with this kind of thing once and thats last Feb when i had like 7 drakes and 2 hens and the drakes were horrible so i sold down until now

 

[Dances with Ducks]

It's good to head off these problems now, as they get older and as the daylight hours increase you will see a lot more "activity".
The simplest temporary thing to do would be to separate the two girls with one male away from the other three males. Maybe you could set up partitions in their house with boards, and in their pen with staked chicken wire. This may eventually result in the separated drakes fighting with each other unless you can get them their own housing where they won't see the females, but for now hopefully this will do until you can make other arrangements.