Drake to hen ratio! Help!

[chicken danz]

I was reading some stuff on the internet and it indicated that drakes and hens mate for life. I bought my ducks as young ones and got three hens and one drake. They are about laying age. Will one drake breed all three hens? I am wanting to raise babies and need to know as soon as I can if I need more males.

 

[katharinad]

In some breeds they mate for life. The normal domesticated duck may if their is only one hen and one drake. Add more hens and the drake will charm those too. So in reality there is no real loyalty. A drake may favor one or two, but he will serve them all. Also you add more drakes they may even fight over the girls. The ideal ratio in a flock in 1 drake for 3-9 hens. So you are perfect with what you have. I have 1 drake and 8 girls, and they are all happy as is. I had to rehome 4 boys to cut down on biggering and fighting. No real fights at that time because they were only 7 weeks old. Yet, the biggering was already starting so it was just a question of time for when the real fights to set in. The dynamic changed a lot after rehoming the extra boys. The hole flock is calm and relaxed.

 

[heksa]

I have one drake and one girl duck ... and my drake is not too happy about this arrangement. He chases my lady chickens as well.

 

[katharinad]

Quote:
His hormones are boiling over. Get him another girl or two. Drakes can hurt chicken very badly. This is due to their nature of actually having a penis, while chicken roosters don't have one. Either more girls or separating him from the chicken.

 

[afeatherfan]

6 hens to 1 drake..Male ducks are worse than any rooster ..

 

[sourland]

The "mate for life" deal only serves one purpose- to assure that his genes carry on. A drake will stay with and "guard" a hen to assure that no other drake breeds her. Once she goes broody, he will top any hen available. A drake will maintain his favorite but breed any available hens. Monogamy only goes so far with ducks.

 

[Snakeman]

I have 1 male Muscovy and 4 hens as well as 4 drakes and 11 ducks. The Muscovy generally breed among themselves, giving me a 1 to 4 ratio and with the ducks, I have 1 to 2.75. I will be adding a couple more ducks in the spring but don't have any problems with my current ratio.

 

[chicksbestfriend]

I have Muscovies, 1 drake and 7 hens, and boy is he always at work on those hens, think I need to add a few more hens to keep him happy. We just culled the other drake that we had, we were getting to many duck fights over the hens. My hens continue to produce offsprings as they age, but I noticed that the drakes become very sexually aggressive as they become more mature and they will mate the hens to death, so I dont keep the same drake for too long. Currently have 4 nests of eggs going on.

 

[gofasterstripe]

I have 2 drakes that I got from Iamcuriositycat and they were raised together, they get on great and follow each other around, no fighting, bickering, nothing. I also have 4 adult Pekin girls in with them and they dont fight who they want. Its getting to the point tho that the girls are starting to look scruffy around their neck area. My ratio is 2 girls to 1 boy, and I am thinking of maybe getting another 4 girls just so the current girls can have a bit of a break.

 

[katharinad]

I hear that a lot. My boy is busy with the 8 girls he has and you cannot see a thing on them. It has actually gotten to the point that the girls want more service from him then he can keep up with. As a result the girls serve each other. So funny in some way.