Can my call duck drake mate with my Rouen hen?

[peydonspoppa]

I have 1 Rouen hen left and my call drakes keep trying to mate with her, she doesn't fight it but I'm not so sure he is big enough to reach around.

 

[NYREDS]

He'd have to be VERY determined.

 

[peydonspoppa]

He tries EXTREMELY hard just kinda curious. I only have her because she is a great layer and a pocket baby.

 

[Learningstill]

I would think it is possible. Our little mallard drake mates with our hefty khaki campbell. I know a mallard is bigger than a call, but I would not put anything past drakes! People in our 4H have had tiny breed of rabbits breed with large breeds. I do not know what that has to do with it, but...lol

 

[mustangsaguaro]

Not a duck but I had a silkie rooster breeding one of my big orpington hens. It was quite funny watching him breeding her. I didn't think I'd get any fertile eggs from this. Boy was I wrong. Ended up w/ 3 silkie/orp mixes. So I am sure it is possible w/ your ducks.

 

[hfchristy]

I've seen pics of ducklings from call/runner pairings, so it's possible, but having watched my half-bantam drake's attempts with our Pekins, I'm going to guess that it's only possible when the female is trying to help. If he tries the usual tactic of holding the female's head down to force the butt up, then he can't reach the "business end" of her.
Sadly, she's not interested, and neither is her sister.

Do you have call females, too, and if so, are the drakes still mating with them? If the Rouen is just a little bonus, then it should be fine, but if one or more of them take her as a favorite, you may want to keep an eye on it.
Even though we have a female who is just the right size for our drake, he has no interest in her anymore. He's only got eyes for the big girls, and since he can't actually complete the act, he keeps trying. and trying. and trying some more. Their poor heads are going bald, and they're not laying like they used to, either.
We tried locking him in a separate cage, but everyone was unhappy about that, and the problem just came back the second we let him back with the others. Then we tried locking him up with a hen who was the right size, and feeling a little lonely. Much, much better.

 

[Bubblesduck]

I have a very dominant male call duck who has mated a few times (that I saw) with a mallard female…she now has a mallard mate, but definitely the call mated her a few times. And I hatched a hybrid egg. Mallard father, white call duck mother…only one egg hatched..,but unique

 

[Bolfreak]

I have a very dominant male call duck who has mated a few times (that I saw) with a mallard female…she now has a mallard mate, but definitely the call mated her a few times. And I hatched a hybrid egg. Mallard father, white call duck mother…only one egg hatched..,but unique

Beautiful! I’ve been tempted to cross breed my Cayugas for moments (WH, Blue, Calls), but sense kicks in after some genetics calculations. Calls can fly WAY too well for my situation. Cayugas are listed as low/no flying and that’s a joke-my drake is the best flier of them all even with a clipped wing.
Can you give more deets on the cross breed? Sex? Flying ability, etc? for the curious

 

[Bubblesduck]

The hybrid call / mallard looks like a silver duck with dark green head and white ring (it’s a male)…kind of like a large call duck but not like mallard size at all. Flying ability is perfect. All my ducks are hand raised so they will fly around the yard or house but they don’t leave. The Justin hatched on thanksgiving 2023…this is picture was this week .


You are the first person who has agreed with me, cayugas CAN fly and can survive in the wild…completely different than Peking…there are wild cayugas near my house (yes I think they were either pets or the escaped since they just appeared one day…but they’ve been living there for many years and I’ve seen them fly across the lake.

 

[Bubblesduck]

Also, hybrid call / mallard was hand raised as a single…he is very gentle…will fly along with me, let’s people other than me pet him , very good ‘pet’ personality