Are you Peking kidding me?

[shawluvsbirds]

I am picking up the new ducks tomorrow night. The seller is bringing me 3 Pekins (1 male, 2 females) and 3 Silver Appleyard (1 male, 2 females). I don't think my husband is very happy with me for trying to solve my problem by buying more ducks. Maybe my hope is outweighing my sense...

This brings me to figuring out how to best integrate everyone. As I already mentioned, my existing ducks will not use the duck house I have for them. It would be FAR too small for anything more than 2 ducks anyway. I have 2 existing coops. One is a "mobile" coop that is approximately 4' x 6' and sits about 12" off the ground with a ramp to the door. This coop is currently empty and inside a small fenced area (25' x 25'?) which can be isolated from the chicken yard. The coop itself has an automatic door and is predator proof. The fenced yard is NOT predator proof.

The 2nd existing coop is about 6' x 8' and is currently used by my 2 goats and 17 chickens. There is a ladder roost which takes up a lot of room so currently no extra space in here. This coop has to be manually locked each night. It is located inside a large fenced chicken yard which is approximately 125' x 25'. This is a guess but it is a big area. Again, the yard is not predator proof because it is not covered and the fence is only about 4 ft high.

I am in the process of building a 3rd new coop. It is located in the large chicken yard. It is 8' x 10" on a concrete slab with an automatic door. My intention is to move all my chickens (hopefully) into the new coop including 20 new baby chicks (currently 4 weeks old). I will have approx 25' - 30' of roost space in the new coop. The goats will NOT be allowed inside.

Soooo... If I am going to pen up the ducks (including trying to entice my existing ducks to join the new ones in the pen), it would seem my options are:

1. Put them all in in smaller fenced yard with the 4' x 6 coop.

2. Put them with the chickens and goats in the larger yard and allow them to decide which coop they will to go in (the one with the goats or the new one)
3. Move the mobile coop closer to the pond, retrofit the automatic door to work off solar power, and don't pen ANY of them into a yard. Might be able to put up a temporary fence for this option, just to get them used to going in the coop.


There's also the dilemma of the male - female balance. I will definitely have to cull at least one male. I'd really like to keep one Pekin male and the SA male both, if possible. That would bring me to 5 females with 2 males...

Well..
You are going to have to manually put them up every night at least until they are trained to go inside. If it were me I'd want them separate from your chickens.
I would say move the mobile pen down by the pond, but you're going to have a heck of a time getting them off the water and into the coop.
So, given the options you have I say I would put them in the fenced yard with their own coop away from the chickens.
Perhaps after a good long while of training you can utilize the automatic door but do not expect immediate results. My ducks will go into their little barns we have for them as soon as I get the mealworms out of an evening. But if I do not go out there to put them up before dark they will still stay outside. And it's been a year or more.
You may eventually get to the point where you could let them still go to the pond once they get comfortable and feel safe in their new fenced area. My ducks will come out of their fenced run and play in the yard but they always go back in their run where their food is. if I had a big pond for them to play in I don't know that they would.
If you decide to cull a drake I would choose one of the pekin if I were you. A pekin drake will most likely be heavier than a Apple Yard hen so having two fatties breeding the smaller girls could end up being a problem.
Congratulations on learning duck math!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I am picking up the new ducks tomorrow night. The seller is bringing me 3 Pekins (1 male, 2 females) and 3 Silver Appleyard (1 male, 2 females). I don't think my husband is very happy with me for trying to solve my problem by buying more ducks. Maybe my hope is outweighing my sense...

This brings me to figuring out how to best integrate everyone. As I already mentioned, my existing ducks will not use the duck house I have for them. It would be FAR too small for anything more than 2 ducks anyway. I have 2 existing coops. One is a "mobile" coop that is approximately 4' x 6' and sits about 12" off the ground with a ramp to the door. This coop is currently empty and inside a small fenced area (25' x 25'?) which can be isolated from the chicken yard. The coop itself has an automatic door and is predator proof. The fenced yard is NOT predator proof.

The 2nd existing coop is about 6' x 8' and is currently used by my 2 goats and 17 chickens. There is a ladder roost which takes up a lot of room so currently no extra space in here. This coop has to be manually locked each night. It is located inside a large fenced chicken yard which is approximately 125' x 25'. This is a guess but it is a big area. Again, the yard is not predator proof because it is not covered and the fence is only about 4 ft high.

I am in the process of building a 3rd new coop. It is located in the large chicken yard. It is 8' x 10" on a concrete slab with an automatic door. My intention is to move all my chickens (hopefully) into the new coop including 20 new baby chicks (currently 4 weeks old). I will have approx 25' - 30' of roost space in the new coop. The goats will NOT be allowed inside.

Soooo... If I am going to pen up the ducks (including trying to entice my existing ducks to join the new ones in the pen), it would seem my options are:

1. Put them all in in smaller fenced yard with the 4' x 6 coop.

2. Put them with the chickens and goats in the larger yard and allow them to decide which coop they will to go in (the one with the goats or the new one)
3. Move the mobile coop closer to the pond, retrofit the automatic door to work off solar power, and don't pen ANY of them into a yard. Might be able to put up a temporary fence for this option, just to get them used to going in the coop.


There's also the dilemma of the male - female balance. I will definitely have to cull at least one male. I'd really like to keep one Pekin male and the SA male both, if possible. That would bring me to 5 females with 2 males...

I was also going to mention you said in one of your earlier posts that they both had a loud quack and neither one had a raspy voice?
It's not impossible for a hen to have what looks to be a drake feather. I would trust a voice sexing over feather sexing. It is still possible you have two females if you say they are both quacking loudly.

 

[TJAnonymous]

The new recruits.... Just introduced them to the new pen. Catching them to put them inside their new coop is going to interesting....

 

[black_cat]

The new recruits.... Just introduced them to the new pen. Catching them to put them inside their new coop is going to interesting....

View attachment 2345796

View attachment 2345797

Adorable!

 

[TJAnonymous]

I was also going to mention you said in one of your earlier posts that they both had a loud quack and neither one had a raspy voice?
It's not impossible for a hen to have what looks to be a drake feather. I would trust a voice sexing over feather sexing. It is still possible you have two females if you say they are both quacking loudly.

Nope, it is a loud quack. Not raspy at all... However I have witnessed him mounting the female when they are in the pond so I'd think that settles that question....

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Nope, it is a loud quack. Not raspy at all... However I have witnessed him mounting the female when they are in the pond so I'd think that settles that question....

Females will mount females

 

[TJAnonymous]

I may have asked this before.... But what would happen if I kept all 3 males with 5 females? Would they try to fight to the death? Over breed the females? Just curious... We are planning to cull one of the Pekin males this weekend and smoke him.

 

[LT71689]

I may have asked this before.... But what would happen if I kept all 3 males with 5 females? Would they try to fight to the death? Over breed the females? Just curious... We are planning to cull one of the Pekin males this weekend and smoke him.

Both. The boys are dangerous to each other with trying to fight for dominance over the flock (since you've really only got enough females for one male) and all of them are a danger to the females by way of aggressive mating and overmating. They could kill each other and/or kill your girls. Realistically, 2 males need to go.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Nope, it is a loud quack. Not raspy at all... However I have witnessed him mounting the female when they are in the pond so I'd think that settles that question....

Actually that settles nothing. Unless you happened to see a corkscrew.
Females mount each other all of the time even with a drake present.

I may have asked this before.... But what would happen if I kept all 3 males with 5 females? Would they try to fight to the death? Over breed the females? Just curious... We are planning to cull one of the Pekin males this weekend and smoke him.

Possibly all of the above and possibly nothing at all.
Most commonly you are going to be in trouble if you don't have a ratio of at least three to four ducks per Drake.
But there are instances of them sort of pairing off and not having a huge problem. It really just all depends on your situation, flock Dynamics, gentleness of your Drake, and your space. Ducks are just very sexual beings.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Well, my husband is going to cull and smoke the Pekin drake this weekend that we just bought.... That leaves my existing Pekin (whom some are saying might not really be a male) and the Silver Appleyard drake. I know I shouldn't be so attached but it makes me really sad to have to choose between them... My husband would rather eat them. Our horse trainer has offered to take one of the males, if I choose to part with one. While both are realistic options, they leave me feeling bummed out. I wish there was a way for them to cohabitate peacefully... Just don't know what to do.... And this all started because the Pekin female won't quit chasing and attacking two of my chickens!