Drake gone, only hen remains. What to do?

[sylviethecochin]

There are Muscovy ducks available, but no Mallards on Craigslist.

Facebook, maybe?

 

[Zach5Kline]

Facebook, maybe?

There are surprisingly none available on Facebook. Just to be sure, I've had both for two years and they are fully domesticated. But in no way should I let her go at a lake with other ducks, right? On one hand she would be able to have that companionship with other ducks, but she obviously is not used to surviving on her own without me... Appreciate the thoughts on that

 

[sylviethecochin]

There are surprisingly none available on Facebook. Just to be sure, I've had both for two years and they are fully domesticated. But in no way should I let her go at a lake with other ducks, right? On one hand she would be able to have that companionship with other ducks, but she obviously is not used to surviving on her own without me... Appreciate the thoughts on that

Yeah, mallards don't last long on lakes with a predator population. Since they're small, they tend to get picked off first unless they're really wary.

 

[Texag87]

You might expand you search on Craigslist. There are always drakes on there. Also, even though they don’t speak quite the same language, Musckies as a friend are the best if another mallard derived is not available.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just some info on Muscovys I have a female who hangs out with my Runners a lot. If you decide to go with a Muscovy get a female though the drakes are huge you don’t want one mating with your little Mallard. Plus if she is brooding she may not welcome a new duck. Honestly I’d give her time to see if the eggs will hatch and just keep a couple of ducklings she’ll love having ducklings to raise. Being it’s breeding season and her brooding her mate probably took off for another female. Please don’t put her out alone at a water source she’ll probably not make it.

 

[Zach5Kline]

You might expand you search on Craigslist. There are always drakes on there. Also, even though they don’t speak quite the same language, Musckies as a friend are the best if another mallard derived is not available.

Great to know. Question about the drake - it is just so mysterious that he up and vanished. Is it possible for him to fly with a partially-clipped set of primary flight feathers? There are no predators near me, no sign of feathers or otherwise, it's just so mysterious, which makes it that much more difficult to accept.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Depends on how much you cut of his primary feathers. I can’t pull the link up on my phone but one site says if you leave the last two flight feathers (longest) they can still fly . I have Muscovy and I cut everyone of the flight feathers to make sure they stay inside their fenced property. A small Mallard could be picked off by a fox or coyote bob cat and not leave a trace.

 

[Zach5Kline]

Just some info on Muscovys I have a female who hangs out with my Runners a lot. If you decide to go with a Muscovy get a female though the drakes are huge you don’t want one mating with your little Mallard. Plus if she is brooding she may not welcome a new duck. Honestly I’d give her time to see if the eggs will hatch and just keep a couple of ducklings she’ll love having ducklings to raise. Being it’s breeding season and her brooding her mate probably took off for another female. Please don’t put her out alone at a water source she’ll probably not make it.

Another question I've been thinking about - my female has a full clutch, probably like 10-13 eggs she is nesting. What is the best way to make sure I only keep a couple ducklings? When she is off the nest should I replace a bunch of her eggs with store bought (non-fertilized) eggs? I would rather not have all 13 hatch and figure out how to deal with all of them, as I did that last year and it was way too much work for her (and me). Appreciate the thoughts on how to trim down how many ducklings hatch. Thanks

 

[sylviethecochin]

You could replace with golf-balls, but she might knock them into each other and crack the shells of the duck eggs.

My approach would be to just remove some of the eggs. She should continue to set on a smaller number.

 

[Zach5Kline]

Thanks a bunch for your response! Very helpful.