Can I keep 2 drakes and three hens?

[FarrFreshEggs]

Hello,
I have two 9 month old hen ducks. I got three ducklings on Valentine’s Day (6 weeks old now) and I got one female and two males. Can I put all of the ducks together? Can two drakes live with three hens in harmony? Or is it just a matter of time before we have problems?

 

[Callender Girl]

It's not likely that they will get along but, in my experience, it's not impossible.

I chose four unsexed runner ducklings from a breeder. Over the years, I have a proven knack for accidently choosing male critters; three of the original four were drakes.

As they grew to maturity, I worried about the lone hen's safety, so I went back to the breeder and got the only adult hen she was willing to part with. I was shocked when my original girl seemed jealous of the newbie and would try to lure the boys away from her, bobbing her head and flattening out, alluringly.

The three boys were fine with each other, maybe because they grew up together?? They rarely, if ever, squabbled. But, the last surviving original drake and a younger boy do not have that same harmonious relationship, which resulted last year in a seriously damaged wing and expensive vet bill for the younger drake.

I still let all the ducks out together during the day when they have free range of the yard, and Layne can escape his tormenter. But the two boys sleep in separate quarters.

I hope you can find a way for everyone to live peacefully!

 

[Evadig]

Hello,
I have two 9 month old hen ducks. I got three ducklings on Valentine’s Day (6 weeks old now) and I got one female and two males. Can I put all of the ducks together? Can two drakes live with three hens in harmony? Or is it just a matter of time before we have problems?

Harmony really depends on the drakes’ personalities.

However, even if they do get along, it’s quite likely that your three females will be over-mated. This might happen even if you have only one drake.

If you could get a few more hen ducks that would be the best .

 

[Yardmom]

This site is filled with people who insist on 4 duck hens per drake. I've tried it that way, but had more fighting than when I keep my duck hens to drakes at 1/1.

In nature mallards get into pairs in the spring. My ducks do the same.
Personality does matter. Most of my pairs currently hang in their own place during the day.

Some of the 1 year olds hang together and are still working out their pairings. During the time they are working out pairings a bit of scuffling and dominance assertions occur.

All birds come back to the pen every night. (I need to watch if a hen doesn't return, because that means she is brooding). To prevent ducks brooding outside the pen I need to leave them locked later in the morning. After the nesting time slows down all ducks will move as one flock during the day as well.


Occasionally I have extra drakes. Not the ideal, but it gives me a chance to look at what drake behavior can be.
Sometimes the extra will go between pairs to try to mate with the duck hens. This can cause over mating and drake fights.
Sometimes two drakes will pair with one hen. They do not over mate once the pairings or trios are established.
I currently have a couple extra drakes. Two drakes are with one hen. She has the best protection from my roamer drake. (Ideally I need to remove the drake that is going between pairs)
A side note If I remove 2 random drakes, my numbers would be better, but it would cause complete chaos because this would upset the pairings they have currently established. Drakes would be fighting over unpaired hens and not focused on their own hens.

Sorry to ramble, but to answer your question yes you can keep 2 duck hens with one drake. Established pairs (or trios) are fine.

 

[FarrFreshEggs]

Thank you for your input! I appreciate it!

I’m thinking I’ll try it and see how it goes.

 

[PacerChickenChaser]

Hello,
I have two 9 month old hen ducks. I got three ducklings on Valentine’s Day (6 weeks old now) and I got one female and two males. Can I put all of the ducks together? Can two drakes live with three hens in harmony? Or is it just a matter of time before we have problems?

Please be careful about your Drake to Hen ratio. I had two drakes and a boatload of hens, and yet for some reason, Both drakes decided to gang up on one of my duck hens. They ripped The skin on her chest completely apart, almost like when Superman peels off his civilian outfit to show the Superman outfit underneath. It was horrible. They literally split her breast skin in two because they both wanted to 'go at her' at the same time. Vent prolapsed and everything. She lived about an hour after the incident, until I came home from work... The two drakes and all of their hens did perfectly fine last year and all winter long... but once breeding season came around they got a little bit too excited. I have a great ratio and yet something horrible still happened. Just be aware that Drakes get really hormonal and they can't always be aware of how aggressive they're being with the hens.

 

[Toad9000]

Thank you for your input! I appreciate it!

I’m thinking I’ll try it and see how it goes.

Hi, just wondering how the 2:3 ratio has been going for you? We bought our Khakis straight run and ended up with the same sex mix. At 11 weeks they're just starting to show mating behavior and so far it hasn't been too bad and we're really hoping it stays that way. We're willing to get more hens if need be but would like to get lucky and not need to

 

[FarrFreshEggs]

Hi, just wondering how the 2:3 ratio has been going for you? We bought our Khakis straight run and ended up with the same sex mix. At 11 weeks they're just starting to show mating behavior and so far it hasn't been too bad and we're really hoping it stays that way. We're willing to get more hens if need be but would like to get lucky and not need to

Thankfully I was able to find a wonderful home for one of my drakes, so I didn’t have much time with both. But they did great while I had them though. I hope for the best for your flock!

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Thankfully I was able to find a wonderful home for one of my drakes, so I didn’t have much time with both. But they did great while I had them though. I hope for the best for your flock!

Could the lack of issues be due to the drakes not being fully mature while they were together? Either way, glad you found a good home for one and you figured out the best solution for your flock.

 

[FarrFreshEggs]

Could the lack of issues be due to the drakes not being fully mature while they were together? Either way, glad you found a good home for one and you figured out the best solution for your flock.

Yes that’s likely. However, from what I’ve researched, it really depends on the drakes you have. Just like any other species, (duck, dog, chickens, cows, pigs, etc.) some males are more tolerant than others to other males. Some drakes are fine with just having one or two hens and sharing the others, sometimes they want all of them, sometimes they are fine being submissive and not having any. It just depends.
Unfortunately a wait and see situationbut when it comes to spring time when the hormones rage, definitely have to be careful because tragedy can happen in a matter of minutes.

One thing I was considering when spring time came was monitoring the pairings and “clicks” if you want to say and then separating them for the month or so into two flocks so each boy could have at least one female and not have to compete. I’ve heard also, if you dont want to breed them and add to your flock, you can seperate the drakes from the hens and give them a temporary “bachelor” pad while their hormones peak then once they settle reintroduce them to the girls.

I hope this helps