Drake drama

[CritieCats]

Drakes need at least 3 and up females each the more the better. This time of year can be hair pulling with drakes gone wild with hormones, best thing to do is put your drakes in drake jail just like you have done and swap them out so each drake gets to be with the females until you decide to rehome or what other option you may feel is best. Most likely anyone else taking them will probably eat them. But maybe not. It can be very hard on the females as you now know. What breed are your new females?

I read 2 a piece in a book which is why I got 5 females for 6 total (2 per drake), but then my mind was blown later when I read if you have 2 or more drakes you need 3-5 females per each drake. So basically I should have given the one female to my sister's kids and just had a all drake group.

I just came in from swapping groups. The original gang of 4 (3 drakes and 1 female "siblings") had 1/2 a day in the pond and yard, and then I let the 5 newer girls out for the rest of the day. They are all penned up at night in a divided predator proof pen. I'm wondering though if I should force the lone female from the original gang of 4 to be with the other girls, except she hates them. So far her "brothers" have not tried to mate her, but I assume it's coming but I don't know. I never had ducks because of my dogs, and since I have no more dogs I thought this is great, I finally have ducks in my pond.

I will cull them before re-homing. Around here drakes are a dime a dozen and people are giving them away. I'm going to try and work through this & hopefully figure something out. If not, we will just have to cull them and eat them being thankful for the meat they provided. I've also ended up with 4 roosters out of my 9 chicks. The odds are not in my favor, lol.

The new girls - 2 are Black Swedish I'm pretty sure (one has angel wings), 1 is Welsh Harlequin, and I am baffled on the other 2. They are white but are not anywhere close to the size of my sister's 2 Pekin females. They are skinnier and stand a bit more upright sometimes, but I don't think they are runners, maybe a cross? One has a black/grey bill with pale orange legs. The Welsh is a bit of a loner but she was the only Welsh in the group of 20+ ducks the person had. They did not come from a great situation, I mean it wasn't the worst but it wasn't great. We had to grab what we could get a hold of and look for a drake feather, and hopefully a quack. It was madness. Ducks were running everywhere and they smelled so bad. They were so happy to get here with a bigger pond and got cleaned up. They are still thin and I am assuming need a good worming. 3 of the 5 are laying eggs. The person said they are a year old but I'm not so sure on that since she didn't even know which ones were male or female, or how to tell the difference. But hey, they taught my original 4 how to get in the pond and swim because they were scared of the pond!

 

[Quatie]

I read 2 a piece in a book which is why I got 5 females for 6 total (2 per drake), but then my mind was blown later when I read if you have 2 or more drakes you need 3-5 females per each drake. So basically I should have given the one female to my sister's kids and just had a all drake group.

I just came in from swapping groups. The original gang of 4 (3 drakes and 1 female "siblings") had 1/2 a day in the pond and yard, and then I let the 5 newer girls out for the rest of the day. They are all penned up at night in a divided predator proof pen. I'm wondering though if I should force the lone female from the original gang of 4 to be with the other girls, except she hates them. So far her "brothers" have not tried to mate her, but I assume it's coming but I don't know. I never had ducks because of my dogs, and since I have no more dogs I thought this is great, I finally have ducks in my pond.

I will cull them before re-homing. Around here drakes are a dime a dozen and people are giving them away. I'm going to try and work through this & hopefully figure something out. If not, we will just have to cull them and eat them being thankful for the meat they provided. I've also ended up with 4 roosters out of my 9 chicks. The odds are not in my favor, lol.

The new girls - 2 are Black Swedish I'm pretty sure (one has angel wings), 1 is Welsh Harlequin, and I am baffled on the other 2. They are white but are not anywhere close to the size of my sister's 2 Pekin females. They are skinnier and stand a bit more upright sometimes, but I don't think they are runners, maybe a cross? One has a black/grey bill with pale orange legs. The Welsh is a bit of a loner but she was the only Welsh in the group of 20+ ducks the person had. They did not come from a great situation, I mean it wasn't the worst but it wasn't great. We had to grab what we could get a hold of and look for a drake feather, and hopefully a quack. It was madness. Ducks were running everywhere and they smelled so bad. They were so happy to get here with a bigger pond and got cleaned up. They are still thin and I am assuming need a good worming. 3 of the 5 are laying eggs. The person said they are a year old but I'm not so sure on that since she didn't even know which ones were male or female, or how to tell the difference. But hey, they taught my original 4 how to get in the pond and swim because they were scared of the pond!View attachment 3139931

What a bummer. That is great you took in these new females. It sounds like they were in a bad situation. The prolapse could be a chronic problem that could be either do to low calcium levels, over breeding or other potential reproductive issues. You may want to keep the prolapsed girl seperated from the drakes.

Drakes are all very different. Some can do well with one or others can need several females. I had one that needed more like 12+ females, while my other drake could have been happy with two females. The more enthusiastic drake drove my other drake to try and breed more as he was loosing all his females. He became more aggressive with females due to his desperation. Once we got rid of the enthusiastic drake my low sex drive drake calmed down and settled down. Also adding more females will not change a drakes behavior if he has favorites.

You can try separating out the drakes in their own area. Some people have success with that and having two flocks. I would also consider trying one drake at a time and see who will be better for your flock overall or if any of them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Def try each drake with your females and decided which one is the most gentle and laid back.
What a beautiful place for ducks.
Hang in there sounds like you have a plan going forward. It can be a challenge for sure with multiple drakes most of us have been there and done that.

 

[CritieCats]

What a bummer. That is great you took in these new females. It sounds like they were in a bad situation. The prolapse could be a chronic problem that could be either do to low calcium levels, over breeding or other potential reproductive issues. You may want to keep the prolapsed girl seperated from the drakes.

You can try separating out the drakes in their own area. Some people have success with that and having two flocks. I would also consider trying one drake at a time and see who will be better for your flock overall or if any of them.

I do not know what they were being fed or how much. But they are on a multi flock layer pellet now, I have scratch out for the chickens and they pick at that, along with access to several acres and the pond. I have no tadpoles or minnows left now, lol. They definitely look better just in the time they have been here, but they just may be small girls in general. Everyone is getting Corid in their water for suspected coccidia in one of the chickens, and it was suggested everyone be treated for 5 days (we are on day 4).

I'm definitely not letting the prolapse girl in with the boys anytime soon. Currently trying to figure out if I can convert a large, fenced in dog area to duck area for daytime use. Perhaps rotate the 2 groups daily between this pen and the pond - one day pond for group 1, second day pen for group one (with a pool in it), and back and forth. If I cull the 2 Rouen boys I still have a Pekin drake, but he is huge and 2x the size of the girls. The Rouens are huge as well. Yesterday the Pekin was out with the girls and I did see him trying to mate with one of the black swedish, but overall it was a much calmer day on the pond with just 1 drake. My only issue is the girl from the gang of 4, she is the leader of the gang and is absolutely lost without them. That's why I wanted to leave 1 drake of the 3 so she has someone she knows.

 

[Quatie]

I do not know what they were being fed or how much. But they are on a multi flock layer pellet now, I have scratch out for the chickens and they pick at that, along with access to several acres and the pond. I have no tadpoles or minnows left now, lol. They definitely look better just in the time they have been here, but they just may be small girls in general. Everyone is getting Corid in their water for suspected coccidia in one of the chickens, and it was suggested everyone be treated for 5 days (we are on day 4).

I'm definitely not letting the prolapse girl in with the boys anytime soon. Currently trying to figure out if I can convert a large, fenced in dog area to duck area for daytime use. Perhaps rotate the 2 groups daily between this pen and the pond - one day pond for group 1, second day pen for group one (with a pool in it), and back and forth. If I cull the 2 Rouen boys I still have a Pekin drake, but he is huge and 2x the size of the girls. The Rouens are huge as well. Yesterday the Pekin was out with the girls and I did see him trying to mate with one of the black swedish, but overall it was a much calmer day on the pond with just 1 drake. My only issue is the girl from the gang of 4, she is the leader of the gang and is absolutely lost without them. That's why I wanted to leave 1 drake of the 3 so she has someone she knows.

My enthusiastic drake I rehomed. He was raised with one other duck, a female. She was a bit sad at first, but eventually integrated full with the other ducks. She is now best of buds with a few of my other ducks. She overall tends to get along with everyone. But it was certainly hard on her first, so I can understand the worry.

 

[CritieCats]

I've been flip flopping the 2 groups for 2 days. The gang of 4 were in a fenced in area with a kiddie pool yesterday and barely moved the whole day, not sure about their new situation. One drake is small enough to fit through the field fencing wire, but he didn't go far and wanted back in with his crew. The girl group 5 had access to the pond all day. Today I left the girl group 5 in chickenville with 2 containers of water and they are ticked off with me. The gang of 4 is thrilled to have pond day, however they keep coming up to the girl group with a, why aren't ya'll out here with us look about them. How long does this glorious drake season last again

My girl that prolapsed has been doing really good but she prolapsed again today. I put it back in, put her in a cat carrier in a dark room & I'm going to search the forums for suggestions.