Big drake, small hen

[desertdarlene]

At our lake, a lot of this year's ducklings are beginning to reach breeding age. Chocolate is about 21 weeks old now and the Flycatching duckling is about 14 weeks old.

I think Chocolate is a Rouen/runner mix and Flycatcher is pure mallard. Chocolate has been shadowing Flycatcher a lot and she seems to like him. But, Chocolate is reaching breeding age faster then the female.

Will he hurt her if he tries to mate with her too early? Will he hurt her even when she reaches breeding age because of the size difference?

Here is a photo of Chocolate, I can always identify him by his large tail:

I think this is a photo of the two together:

I don't see any flirting, yet. It's possible that he's not ready, either.

 

[KansasKid]

I have had my drake rouens breed my hen mallards before and so far i have had no injury's (knock on wood)
but i think it is a possibility that the weight of the drake on her can eventually lead to being egg bound if i'm not mistaken.
Again i'm not for sure, but at least as true winter approaches, ideas of breeding should leave his mind and she'll get to have peace until spring.

 

[desertdarlene]

We have a lot of flirting and mating going on right now with the adults. We have mild weather all year here, but usually I don't see ducklings this time of year.

I hope she doesn't become egg bound because I will probably not be around to see her or catch her if that happens.

So far, he seems more interested in looking at all the hens rather than mating. He doesn't even "compete" with the other males, yet, but maybe it's because he's so big that they don't mess with him.

 

[KansasKid]

Oops, guess i should of thought of looking under your avatar as to where you were located. Around here we have as far high up as 103˚ in the summer and sometimes as low as 0˚ in the dead of winter. So usually all the ducks around here wild and tame in the winter are more focused on finding an open water whole and some shelter than carrying on there generation. Hope she still has that time frame of peace before he does though. i think that since she is on, what I'm assuming is a good sized body of water, she will have enough space to avoid him or the others if they get aggressive or try to overbreed her.

 

[desertdarlene]

Yeah, I hope so. Right now, there's not a problem because there's a lot of females out, so there's plenty for all right now. It's when the females start to break off from the rest to attend to their nests that it starts to get really bad with multiple males and very few females.

So far, Chocolate just seems to be interested in looking and befriending females, or spinning around in circles. But, he seems to really like this little female the most.

Flycatcher doesn't do anything to encourage mating, no calls or anything. I thought she was making calls earlier, but that was another older female. She doesn't seem distressed when Chocolate approaches her, either.