Confused- Can my drake live with the hens full-time?

[Accidentalzookeeper]

I had 2 Pekin drakes about 8 months old, who grew up together and were super adorably bonded. They lived in a pen inside our garden fence on their own. We also have 6 ducks and 14 chickens that live in their own pens and free range in a separate backyard. Unfortunately one of the drakes died last week. On advice of this forum (thank you) I have been integrating him with the other flocks. I take him out of his pen in the morning and take him into the other yard. The ducks seem to have accepted him and they all hang out together all day long. At night, he tries to go into the duck pen with the girls, but I always take him back to his own pen. The first times he went in there, he was definitely harassing them (though I haven't witnessed any mating) but the past couple of nights it seems calm and I feel kind of bad taking him back to his pen because he calls and calls for company.

I am so confused though as to what I'm supposed to do long-term. Can he sleep in the pen with them? There are 6 ducks, all smaller than he is- runners, buffs and khaki campbells. I read a bunch of threads on here and saw that people were talking about separating their drake from ducks for 6 months of the year? What the heck? Then I saw threads where one of a duck pair died and the replacement companion was the opposite sex so they are in a 1:1 ratio, do those ducks get separated? I thought ducks get lonely when they are alone.

It seems like the easiest thing would be to allow my Pekin to be friends with the girls, which he is, and they all seem happy, and not get another drake to keep him company at night in the other pen, right? But do I need to keep his separate pen for the long term? Do I need to continue separating him at night indefinitely, or can he sleep in the girls' pen? Or will I need to take him out for certain months of the year, or what?

Also, will my chickens be ok if they are all free-ranging together? I assume the 6 ducks would keep him busy and he still has some leg issues from his ducklinghood so I think they could all outrun him.

Thank you. I am a first-time duck owner, obviously.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Keep them all together.

 

[Quatie]

They can be kept together. The only thing you may have a problem is the size difference. Since he is a large pekin male and they are small females, he could hurt the females during mating. You may have no problems at all. You will just have to try it out and see how they do.

 

[LT71689]

The ducks and chickens sleep separately? If so, I'd let him stay overnight with the girl ducks, and the chickens will probably be okay free ranging with him because they've got the space to steer clear of him and escape. I wouldn't pen them together because he could corner them and hurt them if he wanted and just because he has plenty of ducks, doesnt mean he wont try the chickens too.

6 ducks should be plenty to keep him from overmating any one duck unless he picks a favorite, in which case you'd pull her and a friend out for a few days to take a break instead of separating him by himself.

 

[KaleIAm]

That's great that the girls and the drake are getting along! I think I would try to leave them together and see how it goes. If you notice signs of overmating you may need to separate.

@3bird

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I don't see or hear any mating going on at night, mine seem to be exhibitionists preferring to do their mating outside, I would say if it is not a problem during the day, why would it be a problem at night?

 

[3bird]

Our advice to anyone who chooses to keep a drake with a small flock (we do!) is to make sure that you have an easy way to separate birds while keeping them together in a predator proof environment. If I had a dollar for every time someone has sworn up and down that their drake is just the perfect gentleman only to later learn that he suddenly wasn't anymore...

Here's what we do: We have a small flock of six ducks (one drake and five hens). During mating season, which for us is about now until September, we need to manage the flock to make sure our drake is not injuring any of our girls. For us, management looks like this:

We allow the whole flock to free-range together supervised 2x day (about an hour each time). Because of this, we know early on who our drake is mating with most and who he may be just harassing (but not mating). Usually we reach a point where he has his best girl and then one or two girls he is constantly running down and standing on (a dominance thing). When we get to that point, we start separating the flock for the day in two fields that are adjacent to one another. They can all see each other and even sleep touching through the fence (they often will), but we make sure to keep the one or two girls our drake is harassing physically separate from him. Often we don't have to separate the girl with which he is mating the most, but sometimes we do. Again, it's all about observation and noting changes. We are really careful to mix the groups up every day--either three and three or four and two. This works really well and maintains the general integrity of the flock.

During peak mating season, we also separate our drake at night. We have a 4'x8' area inside our predator proof run (which has a roof) that we can segment off. Sometime he goes in there by himself, and sometimes his best girl goes in with him (we often just let them decide). Again, like with the fields, he is separated only by a wire fence, and they will often all sleep together. We have a camera in the run, and we know that he can be a turd at all hours. In the run, as someone else mentioned, it's much harder for a girl to get away and the risk of injury goes up.

It sounds complicated when I write it all out like this, but it's really not. It's just about observation and responding to what you see. Ducks love routine, and it isn't long before our drake puts himself away in the evening.

I hope that helps.

 

[Yardmom]

I would put them together. Over mating might be a real problem for some who have small spaces and not enough hens, but you have enough hens and free range. Personally I just let the birds work out the pecking order. The more you take birds in and out the more they have to adjust.