Buff duck newby

[Buffducklover]

Hello,
Today I joined BYC and I like it so far. I have 3 ducks 1 buff hen and the other two are drakes when they mate with her the little one kinda pushes the big on off so I think they will be ok together any thoughts they don't fight at all they just mate with her and push each other off a when she is done with them she runs away. Also can my buff hen go broody she puffs her feathers up a lot and quacks a lot more her stomach used to be round but now it is smashed she will go in sit on her 20 eggs for a few hours get off and wont go back on until she lays another one and then the next day she doesn't sit on them at all could she becoming broody or does it sound like she won't brood

P.S she lays only one egg a day and I believe she is a year old or almost a year!

Please let me know
Thanks, Raeanne

 

[Buffducklover]

Someone please reply

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Hi there. As a general rule, you should have 4-6 ducks for each drake in your flock. So if you have 2 drakes, you should have between 8 & 12 ducks. The drakes can over mate her and hurt her, they can also stress her out where she will not have a successful hatch. So it's not only fighting that you need to be thinking about. Hope this answers your questions.

 

[Going Quackers]

As the previous poster said, you ratio's are way off, 2-3 ducks per at the very least, even then sorta depends on the drakes. They do only lay one egg a day, totally normal.. she is sounding broody BUT if she's being stressed by the demands of two drakes she may not sit.

Ducks need a secure place in which to brood, now i do leave my broodies with the flock, but pen separate when babies hatch for the first while.

Ducks seem to vary on how many eggs they want to sit upon, my last broody sat on only five, i have a current one sitting on 9(was 10 but she dumped it out, non fertile.)

 

[Buffducklover]

If I get another female duck gets other box for the nesting box and build another pen for the females and babies will they be good

 

[shicks0211]

why are you housing the femaes separate? do you not want the males to breed with them? (sounds like that ship has sailed) if you have 2 drakes and one hen..i'd say you need at least 2 more hens..but i'd go with 3..or get rid of one drake and get 2 hens..or i suppose your other option is to keep the drakes separate from the hens..that is just to keep them from breeding the hens to death.

 

[Buffducklover]

No I would like them to breed I jut was wondering if when the ducklings hath should I separate the males from the mother or will they be fine

 

[Going Quackers]

Best to separate, drakes are known to kill ducklings. Since you've never had a hatch you won't know. My mums start going back into the flock with the babes about 2wks old but i know my drakes and how they react.

 

[shicks0211]

oh, yes with the ducklings i would, like quackers said, you have to know your drakes. The one drake buff that I have is VERY aggressive to the other ducks at certain points and I'd never put him with babies..He mated with my chocolate runner, and also my buff hen and then proceeded to break the eggs..i saved 2 runner eggs, and 1 buff egg and incubated them. I have the babies, but i keep them separate from the other ducks at this point. I'm still contemplating if i'll even release them to free range with him, he's drown 2 of my pekin's at the beginning of mating season this year. I have to say, as far as duck breeds go, Buff drakes are far mor aggressive than any other drakes i've had. When the duckling is older and i can sex it, i'm sort of hoping it's not another drake..the Hen..Miss Daisy is the sweetest duck ever..so nice to everyone..but the drake, i call him lucifer..he's nice to people..not so much to the other ducks..Even people that visit immediately see him with the ducks and say..OH my goodness that one is mean!

 

[Going Quackers]

oh, yes with the ducklings i would, like quackers said, you have to know your drakes. The one drake buff that I have is VERY aggressive to the other ducks at certain points and I'd never put him with babies..He mated with my chocolate runner, and also my buff hen and then proceeded to break the eggs..i saved 2 runner eggs, and 1 buff egg and incubated them. I have the babies, but i keep them separate from the other ducks at this point. I'm still contemplating if i'll even release them to free range with him, he's drown 2 of my pekin's at the beginning of mating season this year. I have to say, as far as duck breeds go, Buff drakes are far mor aggressive than any other drakes i've had. When the duckling is older and i can sex it, i'm sort of hoping it's not another drake..the Hen..Miss Daisy is the sweetest duck ever..so nice to everyone..but the drake, i call him lucifer..he's nice to people..not so much to the other ducks..Even people that visit immediately see him with the ducks and say..OH my goodness that one is mean!

Oh my! that is awful! my buffs coming are sexed, the girls good? i understood the breed got on well with others... geez, people say Muscovy drakes are nasty lol