Drake over mating 1 hen

[yarrowhouse]

Our jumbo Pekin has decided our new hen is his one and only favorite. She's a Rouen, on the small side, so not only is he over mating her but he's so much bigger. We can and do separate him, but that means he can't access the pool, he's walled off on his own. Our ladies then spend a lot of time sitting by the fence near him rather than being in the pool.

Does anyone have a rule of thumb for how much time to make them spend separated to give the hen a break? Versus how much time to let them be together knowing that he will continue to favor her.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

Sorry nobody replied to you. How's it going now?

 

[Yardmom]

The drake is trying to get the hen to accept him. If you don't have other drakes it should not take long for her to accept him and for the drake to realize there is not a challenger. Then his forced mating will stop.

If you continue to separate them for some of the time, it will lengthen the process of establishing their bond.

 

[yarrowhouse]

Hi!

Sorry nobody replied to you. How's it going now?

Thanks for checking in. Continues much the same.

The drake is trying to get the hen to accept him. If you don't have other drakes it should not take long for her to accept him and for the drake to realize there is not a challenger. Then his forced mating will stop.

If you continue to separate them for some of the time, it will lengthen the process of establishing their bond.

How long would you say it should or could take?

Our drake has had 5 months with the new lady. She seems to like him. She seeks him out when they are separated and sits next to him through the fence.

But he still only wants to mate her, and it's constant. The back of her head quickly goes bald and looks painful/irritated skin if we don't separate them.

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

In my opinion, you should separate your drake from his favorite hen ASAP.
At last until hormones are NOT of control anymore... (You need to wait for mating season to end!)

Your ducks won't like it, clearly; but at least, your drake won't end up killing your hen...

Instead of separating the drake from the hens, you can just separate his favorite girl from your other ducks.
(If they can keep seeing each others through the fence, your girl won't feel lonely - don't worry.)

 

[sourland]

Hi.

In my opinion, you should separate your drake from his favorite hen ASAP.
At last until hormones are NOT of control anymore... (You need to wait for mating season to end!)

Your ducks won't like it, clearly; but at least, your drake won't end up killing your hen...

Instead of separating the drake from the hens, you can just separate his favorite girl from your other ducks.
(If they can keep seeing each others through the fence, your girl won't feel lonely - don't worry.)

I agree 100 %.

 

[yarrowhouse]

Thanks @Papaye @sourland . We are mostly keeping him separate. Every other day or so we let them all mingle (and he mates her) for part of the day.

 

[Yardmom]

Either separate completely or leave them together. Taking her in and out causes him to mate more often.