broody ducks with non broody ducks

[archil]

If i have two muscovy hens and one drake sleeping in one coop/kennel and one duck decides she wants to hatch some ducklings, is it safe to let the drake and the other duck still sleep in the same kennel as her while shes with the eggs/ducklings?
They just live in a large dog kennel
I have ducklings right now and I'm not sure what they are yet
would it be safe to have two drakes and one hen in the same situation or in the same sleeping kennel anyway?

 

[NYRIR]

Whenever possible, I try to give my hens some space without anyone else. Are your ducklings from these parents? Or are you talking about eggs that have not hatched yet?

 

[archil]

Whenever possible, I try to give my hens some space without anyone else. Are your ducklings from these parents? Or are you talking about eggs that have not hatched yet?

I have three ducklings now [I just bought them, Ive never owned ducks before] which I don't yet know the sex of; and I'm just wondering about the future, and what I'll need to do if this stuff happens. I plan on selling eggs and/or ducklings at some point and I want everyone to be safe and happy while producing form me.

 

[jdywntr]

Multiple drakes will most likely fight unless they have a lot of hens available, like 4-6 each. If you end up with 2 drakes and a hen you will, most likely, need to find something to do with one of the drakes, whether it be sell it, process it etc.
Multiple drakes will overbreed a hen (or even a few hens) which is dangerous for her. Even 1 drake may overbreed 1 or 2 hens.

It is very difficult with unsexed ducklings, you never know what you picked. For instance, when I first got muscovy, I picked 5 ducklings and tried to pick the smallest and 1 that was bigger. They were a few weeks old at that time, I ended up with 4 drakes and 1 hen.

Your best bet, if you can't get more hens is wait to see what gender they are. With muscovy this will take a few weeks and you will start to see a size difference. If you end up with 2 males, you will have a little time to decide who to keep. When I had to pick one of the 4, I looked at who my female seemed to spend more time with and that is who I kept.

 

[NYRIR]

It can be dangerous to have more than one drake for all the reasons the previous poster said. How big is your dog kennel?

 

[archil]

the kennel is 88cm x 86cm x 100cm
We're probably going to make it a little bigger soon though

 

[NYRIR]

How old are they now?

I recommend at least 3 square foot per duck inside if they are out free during the day and IF THEY ARE ONLY IN AT NIGHT or during really bad weather. If they are constantly contained...8-10 square foot per duck.

Muscovy drakes get very big....here is one in relation to a goose....

.

Here he is next to a small kiddie pool....

 

[archil]

How old are they now?

I recommend at least 3 square foot per duck inside if they are out free during the day and IF THEY ARE ONLY IN AT NIGHT or during really bad weather. If they are constantly contained...8-10 square foot per duck.

Muscovy drakes get very big

They're about three or four weeks old right now
as soon as I can clip their wings they will be free range all day and locked up at night
We're in the process of building a large chicken run and I'm going to keep them in there until I can clip their wings

 

[NYRIR]

Cool...so they are babies. You should be fine for a little while then! They'll be happy to free range....may I ask why you are clipping their wings?