Culling Drakes? Solo

[RainbowVixen]

We acquired some pekin drakes a month ago from some people in a nearby neighborhood, they didn’t mention any particularly violent behavior or anything like that. And at first things weren’t too bad, or maybe that’s just my inexperience showing and inability to see what more experienced duck keepers can.

Yesterday, I went to tend to the ducks first thing in the morning as usual. Give them their fresh water in their ponds, refill or give fresh water and food in their containers if necessary and give them treats. I see one of my girls, Leda, not moving next to the food container, her back had no feathers left on it and her eyes looked really red. Due to the redness of her eyes I assume that they all got on top of her and she got crushed and suffocated. They were all still trying to breed her despite the fact that she was dead. I was horrified naturally and have been crying on and off since. She has been buried next to her sister, Ophelia. Needless to say..the boys were removed immediately from the girls area and I have no intentions of breeding them with the girls. We will be eating all 3 of them and will never purchase animals from anyone else besides a breeder or a trusted hatchery ever again. Boys will be kept separately from now on as well. Never again.

But I am terrified of axes and blades, or of even holding down a duck for my husband to cut the heads off. We dispatched one of the girls for being loud at night, we live in a neighborhood where the houses are all super close together. It wasn’t something that was easy and I moved a bit, I was just so very uncomfortable holding her neck out and her body while an axe came down close enough to my hand. I’ve been looking into cervical dislocation and the broomstick method, but don’t know if it works for such big boys. They are at least a year old and I’ve never done it before or killed any animal purposefully, let alone 3 of them for that matter.

Any tips? Thanks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd say most of us on this forum keep or ducks as pets. Not saying that out of necessity to keep our birds safe we haven't had to cull. Here we've only had to do roosters. But It's not an easy thing to do either. I am hoping maybe if you go on this forum someone may be able to help you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/meat-birds-etc.21/
So very sorry for your loss.

 

[RainbowVixen]

I'd say most of us on this forum keep or ducks as pets. Not saying that out of necessity to keep our birds safe we haven't had to cull. Here we've only had to do roosters. But It's not an easy thing to do either. I am hoping maybe if you go on this forum someone may be able to help you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/meat-birds-etc.21/
So very sorry for your loss.

Thank you so much, I hope someone will be able to give me some answers there then. We got the girls for eggs and thought maybe we could have some boys to produce more babies when we wanted to, but they are just too..mean.

 

[DukesDucks]

You don't mention what your duck to drake ratio is. I don't think it is a question of where the ducks came from. It is mating season and drake hormones are full on. Yes they will mate with a duck to death. I keep suggesting to people to use the search button, then advanced search entering the words "drake" and jerk".
If you want the potential of ducklings you are going to need to keep at least one. Have you thought of posting them for sale or free.
I don't know what your suggested methods mean but they sound inhumane. If you are uncomfortable killing them, find someone to do it humanely.

 

[jus10inla]

first & foremost. Ima hunter. So killing an animal i can do with ease. It puts necessary food on my table.

But to answer your original broomstick. That is my preferred method. I use a t post, & have taken the head completely off of 15-20 lb birds with ease.

 

[RainbowVixen]

You don't mention what your duck to drake ratio is. I don't think it is a question of where the ducks came from. It is mating season and drake hormones are full on. Yes they will mate with a duck to death. I keep suggesting to people to use the search button, then advanced search entering the words "drake" and jerk".
If you want the potential of ducklings you are going to need to keep at least one. Have you thought of posting them for sale or free.
I don't know what your suggested methods mean but they sound inhumane. If you are uncomfortable killing them, find someone to do it humanely.

We had 8 girls and 3 boys. Though that didn’t seem to matter as they always went after the same one.

 

[RainbowVixen]

first & foremost. Ima hunter. So killing an animal i can do with ease. It puts necessary food on my table.

But to answer your original broomstick. That is my preferred method. I use a t post, & have taken the head completely off of 15-20 lb birds with ease.

Well that certainly answers that. I think the biggest boy may be a little over ten pounds? So it should work if I choose to go that way. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jus10inla]

Place head down. Put broomsfick, or whatever u got like that just behind base of head. Step on broomstick about 6 - 12” on each side. Pick back legs up like pulling a bow back, it will severe.. Like i said i use a t post as it has a sharp and straight edge. There is little to no flaping. Less than 5-10 seconds at most.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

1 male duck should have at least 3-4 females. So your ratio with 3 males to 8 females has to many males involved. Breeding season is very brutal on female ducks and the males often pick a favorite.

I know how horrible it is to lose an animal. I know you want to blame the males, or anything at this point. Grief is awful and it makes you angry.

I would recommend thinking this over for a while. You may feel really awful right now and do something rash and then regret it after. Take some time to relax, calm down and look at the situation again.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[SolarDuck]

I would definitely agree that it isn't the drakes fault, it doesn't necessarily mean they are aggressive they are just ducks. They have a very high sex drive so they need a very good male to female ratio, and some people even with great ratios still have to separate the drakes during mating season. I think if you're set on getting rid of them your easiest option would be to just rehome them for free. Honestly I think their behavior wouldn't be much different if they were from a breeder or hatchery.