Chickens and ducks together?

[harleyjo]

Please tell me that my Delaware rooster that is trying to mate with my muscovy female ducks can't get the job done. I have a big pen with them all together and I have been told that my rooster is trying to mate with my duck. Hopefully during this next year I am going to be able to get some individual pens made for the different breeds but I can't do it right now.

 

[Stacykins]

I hear that it is only a problem if you have a drake with your chicken hens. Drakes have a very long corkscrew shaped man part that can cause damage to or kill a chicken if copulation is attempted. Their hardware just doesn't match up. Rooster's have no 'part' per se, for insemination, they rely on touching their cloaca to that of the female. So you can see how drakes can be problematic.

Other than frustrating him, I don't think your roo trying to mate will be a problem unless he does so excessively and starts ripping off her back feathers and stressing her out.

 

[coonhoundmama87]

Nope he can't do that

But if you have a drake and he's a very agressive rooster you might have issues there. I had a chick I raised with a duckling once. Everything was fine until the following spring. That chick became a rooster and decided he was a duck and all the girls were his. He beat up on my drake pretty bad. He found a new home down the road at DH's uncles farm where there's no ducks!

 

[Kevin565]

No he can not fertilize her eggs. However he can injure her if over breeding her.

 

[coonhoundmama87]

My goodness never knew that! (that it could hurt them, I already knew about the corkscrew man parts

)

I hear that it is only a problem if you have a drake with your chicken hens. Drakes have a very long corkscrew shaped man part that can cause damage to or kill a chicken if copulation is attempted. Their hardware just doesn't match up. Rooster's have no 'part' per se, for insemination, they rely on touching their cloaca to that of the female. So you can see how drakes can be problematic.

Other than frustrating him, I don't think your roo trying to mate will be a problem unless he does so excessively and starts ripping off her back feathers and stressing her out.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I'd guess this roo doesn't have enough chickens hens available. Is he low on the peck order?

 

[harleyjo]

There are 5 delaware hens and one delaware rooster. I just sold 8 of the young( 4 to 5 month old) muscovy's. Now I have 1 muscovy drake adult, 3 adult female muscovy and one young, same age as the ones sold, female muscovy.

I have not clipped wings and although they are in a 6' high enclosure, the muscovy's will fly out. I live in a small rural town and I just can't let them completely free range. As soon as we can in the spring I want to separate the breeds. My delawares are young too, hatched toward the end of July. I don't want them down in the coop with my other chickens.