Does getting Rid of Drakes Improve Egg Production?

[AtropineCaffein]

We had a flock of 25. We were on the lookout for signs of "too many drakes" and found that the Saxony drakes were ganging up (if one mated, the rest ran over.) and were overmating one particular saxony duck. So we got rid of the drakes last thursday and suddenly we are getting a lot more eggs (meaning, last week we would get 2-4 eggs every other day, yesterday we got 5. Today we got TWELVE.)

I am not sure if it is because we got rid of the dominant drakes or if there is another factor (start of spring, though this seems like a LOT of eggs all of a sudden, them not laying in the water, etc).

This has convinced me to definitely ensure a HUGE duck to drake ratio, but it also was interesting to suddenly get an influx of eggs.

Thoughts?

 

[needlessjunk]

I would venture to guess that they were stressed. As soon as I got rid of my drake my flock was instantly much happier all around. I didn't notice any egg changes but I only had 1 drake to 5 females. But the girls we just so much happier, no more running and getting thrown to the ground since he didn't like to use the pool to mate.

 

[AtropineCaffein]

Thank you!

Interestingly, our flock has split in two since three of the drakes were removed! They don't bicker between or within groups, and things are much more quiet, but one flock has two drakes, one has three (we had a big flock). There is a lot less mating going on. The flock is not as bold as it used to be in coming up to me. One flock is ranging all over the yard, the other stays pretty close.