Bachelor pad - bad idea?

[Lizmo1239]

Hello everyone. I have posted a couple times now about the struggles of having one hen and one drake (we didn't have this set-up by choice!), and our drake over mating the female (who is way way smaller than him). He is truly relentless, and to make matters worse, when they are free ranging together, the sheer act / noise of us opening up our backdoor to visit with them triggers him going after the female EVERY TIME. So it's making us not want to visit with them as much as it always ends in us having to break them up.

Right now we have a pretty solid setup where they're separated but able to see / graze next to each other and are also separated in their coop at night by wire. That said, this isn't sustainable forever. I am in touch with someone in our area who is looking to get rid of their drake and we were thinking of trading our female for her male, so our lady can graze in peace with other ladies in the new home. We are super bonded with our drake, he has one eye and is hilarious and were thinking of having a bachelor pad with two males. I thought I read this works fine (with slow / proper introductions) but now i'm reading more into it and it's seeming like we could potentially run into the same issues we're having now.

Any thoughts/suggestions/wisdom/ideas? We are at a little bit of a loss of what to do - thank you!

 

[fatty and friends]

my boys love each other, so i think it will work great for you. also all drakes means no egg issues, so less to worry about

 

[Lizmo1239]

that's encouraging to hear!!

my boys love each other, so i think it will work great for you. also all drakes means no egg issues, so less to worry about

 

[Quatie]

There are a multiple people who have done it. If you have room, you may want to consider having 3 drakes in total. If anything ever happens to one, they still have a friend. Luckily, it is always easy to find drakes.

Also realize it can time to integrate ducks together. Be prepared for it to not happen instantaneously. It usually takes at least a couple weeks, but often longer. But with time and patience, most ducks can integrate.

I love my girls, but it is nice to hear some one else considering a drake flock.

 

[Lizmo1239]

It's been one week since we swapped our duck for a Drake for a two-Drake bachelor pad and things are going pretty well so far! We didn't think ducks came bigger than our one-eyed jumbo pekin but somehow the drake we got is bigger than him. and he's so so sweet.

things started off almost TOO good, no tussles and they really just seemed to become best bros instantly - the new duck actually scaled a dog pen and squeezed his way through mesh netting to get to our original duck twice because he wanted to be close to him. we've had one "big" fight as my original drake didn't like when the new duck was in the pool but we were able to break it up (no more pool time for them unless monitored). all that said, the past few days our pekin is doing a lot of chasing of the new duck. it reminds me a lot of the behavior he showed with our old hen as if he's trying to mate the new duck? luckily like i said the new duck is bigger and has a taller neck that him so it's incredibly rare the pekin is able to catch him and he gives up the chase pretty quickly, so it's working out fine. occasionally he gets ahold of fluff feathers but i'm not seeing any evidence of big or significant feather pulling. and the new duck doesn't return the chase or fight at all.

I'm crossing my fingers the chasing doesn't get worse. i wonder if it's built up sexual frustration that's happening since he was so used to having a girl to pick on? hormones? or if he's just being his typical jerk self. I'm hoping things mellow out or don't get worse. not sure if anyone else has integrated drakes where it eventually mellowed out but i suppose I shall see!

 

[Ascholten]

As long as there are not any women around to fight over, the drakes, should be fine, if they are not trying to kill each other as it is. But remember, they ARE animals and at times, will get into scuffles over stupid stuff.. just like people do.

Aaron

 

[Lizmo1239]

Yes, great point. And keep trying to remind myself it's only been a week! hopefully their mellow start with intros is a good sign for a friednship to come.

 

[Ascholten]

You can always get a stuffed duck from the dollar store and.... oh nevermind....
Aaron

 

[Quatie]

Usually you want to integrate them slowly. Start with separated areas where they can see but not hurt each other. Then they share the outdoor space. Lastly they can share the coop. They are going to chase each other in the beginning as they establish a pecking order. It will settle down with time. Each integration is different with how much time it will take. Overall, it sounds like it going well so far.

 

[Lizmo1239]

Does anyone have experience with letting ducks "work it out" on their own vs. strict separation until the chasing stops? The good news is 9 times out of 10 my jerk duck can't catch the new one so the chase stops pretty quickly, but it can happen pretty frequently. debating whether it's better to "let" the chase happen while monitoring so they can establish that pecking order themselves or separating them more until the chasing slows down.