Hey, I have one drake and 3 females. Only One cares at all to sit on a nest. I had one duckling hatch so i split the house up so she would be alone with the babys. I didn't do a very good job and the drake jumped the fence I built. First time its ok, I built up the fence more. The next day it happens and this time the duckling is dead. I staple every part of the fence I can to make the split more secure to keep him from jumping. Two more ducklings have hatched. They are a week old so far. She is still sitting on the nest so I built a run within their yard with a roof. Whenever the baby's are in the run the drake chases them on the outside of the pen. I'm now pretty sure he's what killed the first duckling. Is there any way to keep him from hurting them? Why would he want to? Is this a common problem? This is not the first year I've had ducklings but last year I had two drakes not just one. Any ideas or suggestions?
Yes it's very common. In the wild males tend to leave their mates after she begins to brood, so it's less common to have adult males interacting with ducklings, but males can be very aggressive towards any newcomer including ducklings. Most suggest waiting until the ducklings are fully fledged before beginning introductions. I have my teen coop and adult coop side by side (within visual range of each other) and do limited supervised introductions once a week.
