Do ducks do best with a drake?

[johntfs]

It all depends! - If you are in an area with predatory birds, for example you should have drakes. They are the guardians of the flock, always watching out for any dangers to "their" girls and alerting them.
And yes, that mating thing. My ducks actually request to be mated a lot. They flatten out in front of the drakes, bob their heads and make demanding sounds to seduce the drakes. So i assume it is different for a duck to be mated by a drake vs. by another duck, because i also have duck-sandwiches from time to time… And triple duck-burgers…
From my point of view you do need drakes.

Figure like everything it's going to depend on your set up and situation. With a small flock an enclosed, secure run with good poultry netting might be a better defense than a drake. You seem to have a large flock and a pretty big "roaming" area for your ducks, so netting it off would be prohibitively expensive - in which case drakes could be very useful.

Just coming at it as an self-educated outsider who doesn't keep ducks, one thing I notice is that a goodly portion of the "cries for help" on the forum come down to "My drake is doing horrible stuff! How do we make it stop?"

So my take on the OP's question was that unless she just wanted to get fertilized eggs or breed ducklings, there's not much of a reason to get a drake and quite a few reasons not to get one.

 

[DucksOhio]

It all depends! - If you are in an area with predatory birds, for example you should have drakes. They are the guardians of the flock, always watching out for any dangers to "their" girls and alerting them.
And yes, that mating thing. My ducks actually request to be mated a lot. They flatten out in front of the drakes, bob their heads and make demanding sounds to seduce the drakes. So i assume it is different for a duck to be mated by a drake vs. by another duck, because i also have duck-sandwiches from time to time… And triple duck-burgers…
From my point of view you do need drakes.

I absolutely agree. I have 2 drakes to 10 girls. They are really great protectors. They actually chase ducks who are slow in getting into the house with the others.

I used to have real issues with one drake, really contemplated putting him down. But since I added more girls, he and I are getting along just fine.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I want to clarify too that I realize other cultures have different taste than us and am in no way knocking that I just didn’t feel that was appropriate for what the OP was asking about. So if I offended any one please forgive.

 

[chickens really]

Hmm?
Just to say you don’t need a Drake . Although hens breed hens too so the breeding behaviour won’t stop even without a Drake.

 

[Trimurtisan]

I'm sure there are better places to argue folks. If the OP was asking about bault eggs then the comments around it would hold ground but they didn't. Can we move on from that part now please?

I would say you do not need a drake to have happy ducks. I would also say that having a drake could have benefits as others have pointed out. Also, drakes are pretty quiet compared to ducks, so in that aspect they can be less annoying. As for not having a bunch of duckling running around, just don't let them hatch the eggs. You might get a broody duck, but you could get that w/o a drake too and still have to break the broodiness. Myself, I plan to always have drakes as long as I have ducks around. They are protectors, and can have very sweet personalities.

 

[Jpat]

Figure like everything it's going to depend on your set up and situation. With a small flock an enclosed, secure run with good poultry netting might be a better defense than a drake. You seem to have a large flock and a pretty big "roaming" area for your ducks, so netting it off would be prohibitively expensive - in which case drakes could be very useful.

Just coming at it as an self-educated outsider who doesn't keep ducks, one thing I notice is that a goodly portion of the "cries for help" on the forum come down to "My drake is doing horrible stuff! How do we make it stop?"

So my take on the OP's question was that unless she just wanted to get fertilized eggs or breed ducklings, there's not much of a reason to get a drake and quite a few reasons not to get one.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Although I'm not experienced enough to share my 2 cents, I'll share my penny. I have 4 drakes and 2 ducks  My ducks are constantly doing the head Bob and accept any advances from the 2 drakes that have matured. I have pondered so much on keeping a Drake and adding ducks come Spring, but every single time I see the drakes mount the ducks in the pond, I am so terrified that they'll drown my ducks. I believe my Pekin duck experienced a near drowning not too long ago and that's what made up my mind. She was ok within a few hours, but like @Jpat has unfortunately experienced, drowning from mating, can and does happen. Now, if your ducks are in a run with a pool, or something shallow, that is different, I believe. As far as the drakes other functions, I haven't noticed my drakes doing a lot more than mating. My Pekin duck, Honey, seems to call the shots and I've noticed a few times where my Buff Duck takes charge. All of my ducks are young (hatched beginning of August 2019) so that could be part of my experience. Best of luck. Ducks are wonderful (Which you already know) and I wish you all the very best!

Edited to add that with all of that said, you'd think I would have mentioned that I plan on rehoming my drakes (hopefully all together to a good home with a duck house that they're locked in at night) where they can live long happy healthy lives in a Bachelor pad and adding ducks and hopefully some geese come Spring.

 

[DuckyDonna]

I'm sure there are better places to argue folks. If the OP was asking about bault eggs then the comments around it would hold ground but they didn't. Can we move on from that part now please?

I would say you do not need a drake to have happy ducks. I would also say that having a drake could have benefits as others have pointed out. Also, drakes are pretty quiet compared to ducks, so in that aspect they can be less annoying. As for not having a bunch of duckling running around, just don't let them hatch the eggs. You might get a broody duck, but you could get that w/o a drake too and still have to break the broodiness. Myself, I plan to always have drakes as long as I have ducks around. They are protectors, and can have very sweet personalities.

Excellent on all fronts!

 

[Loopeend]

Unlike humans; ducks do not have "I need children/sexual partner" realisation like we do.

They might have the urges; but not on a more deeper consious level like we do.

They can be absolutely happy and content without ever meeting a drake in their lives.

Like cats and dogs and horses and cows.. what makes us humans is that we tend to describe things to our feelings. We also tend to describe feelings to other animals. Like motherhood and wanting an opposite-sex partner. Unlike us; animals don't get confronted/tought like we do about the possibility of mother/fatherhood. Like we get when we are young. We can see as children; people having children; think about that; and decide we want that too. No animal (buy maybe chimpanzees or dolphins..) looks at... let's say it different; no female duck looks at another female duck with ducklings and thinks "I want to have ducklings too". Even worse; it will think more like "I need to peck those weird things to death". No duckling; looks at an adult female duck with ducklings; and think; later when I'm all grown up I want to become a mommy just like her; etc.

They do not need drakes. They like same-breed compagny. You don't have to worry about being a bad duck-mom/dad if you don't let your duck mate. They will not miss it. Drake or female. Will their body give urges; yes. And they solve that themselves. Mostly only the first year. They are just not humans.

 

[Loopeend]

To elloborate and maybe become more gross;

Op; thank you for this question. Normal question. Good question. This is not personally to you. Around 50% of questions I get about ducks revolves around this.

The last years kepping ducks as indoor/close pets is getting big. Logically; people attach more to them. That's cool; they are sweet social animals.

Around 4-8 months the questions come..

I get movies send to me of a drake that is clearly riding a pillow... and a question like "Help; I think he is sick!". Not knowing that person, or the age of that person, but probably 18+ since you can;t get your own place younger then that.. I have to go on explain about the birds and the bees and ducks going through puberty like us humans; which is quite awkward. They understand. But then after that say; thanks; so I better need to hire a female duck then?

NO! What? Wait what?

Imagine your parents caught you doing something during puberty and they directly "hired"someone.. omg..

So weird.. because it's like "we attach human emotions to the duck and we worry now" and then "we go against human emotions now because it is an animal" =/

So weird.

So. Please don't do that.