Drakes are too rough

[djstanczak]

I have 9 ducks about a year old now. Seven hens and two drakes. They have been raised together but in May the males went nuts constantly mating and would both gang up on one hen. It got to the point they had the hens necks bloody and one of the hens would coming running to my husband for protection. We have tried separating the males from the females for a couple of weeks then letting them back together, but they go right back to this behavior. We let the females free range in the day and I feel bad keeping the males penned up. We are now going to have to build another permanent pen for the males. Is this normal? They are beautiful Ancona males, anyone here live in southern Indiana that needs a drake. We don't kill our ducks or chickens so they would have to go to a good no kill home. I also have a pruebred Cream Legbar rooster that needs a home, he's gorgeous but his name is satan for good reason

 

[Lrosell31]

I have the same problem. I have five drakes and only three ducks. I got them all in March and two of my drakes have been tag teaming one of my females. I’m worried they are going to kill her. So it looks like I will have to rehome three of them. Just frustrating.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Based upon some research, drakes just tend to be quite sexually aggressive and females often resist mating. I doubt this is a permanent issue, but it may mean that during breeding season you need to separate them either for the duration of mating season, or for a good part of the day. I haven't dealt with a mating season yet, but I watch these types of threads closely because with 23 ducks I know I'm going to encounter this issue at some point. I do try to have a good 3-1 or greater F/M ratio though.

 

[Lrosell31]

Based upon some research, drakes just tend to be quite sexually aggressive and females often resist mating. I doubt this is a permanent issue, but it may mean that during breeding season you need to separate them either for the duration of mating season, or for a good part of the day. I haven't dealt with a mating season yet, but I watch these types of threads closely because with 23 ducks I know I'm going to encounter this issue at some point. I do try to have a good 3-1 or greater F/M ratio though.

Yeh if I can’t find a home for my drakes then I guess I will need to get more females.

 

[djstanczak]

I thought seven hens to two drakes would be an OK radio but it's not. How long is breeding season?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Too long if yours are abusing your females so badly. Usually by Sept things begin to settle some. But honestly it's best to keep the drakes penned up instead of letting them do this to the females. I had the same thing happen here 4 Runner drakes to 8 females I had been through the mating game with my scovies but they do not gang up they prefer to just beat the tar out of each other, but I had read so much about drakes ganging up on females that I didn't wait till mating season I rehomed 3 of my Runners drakes and only kept one. No problems at all with mating with just the one drake. It was really hard to give those boys up but I knew I had to do it to protect my females.

 

[harmonymw]

God I hope Jack and Roosevelt behave themselves next year.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Some amount of being rough seems to be natural though. Wild drakes regularly behave like this. So much so that it has been documented thoroughly for many decades with accompanying theories on why females resist, and why drakes force copulation.

Obviously we wouldn't be OK with drakes being so rough that they severely injure or even kill females. Yet, isn't some amount of rough copulation merely par for the course amongst waterfowl? Where is the line between allowing natural traits and expecting drakes to basically not behave like drakes anymore?

 

[Lil Drake40]

Reread the OP first post. But yes duck sex is rough I see it with my Muscovies. But not to the point where the females are bloody that isn’t acceptable.I have never seen skin and bloody skin just a few missing feathers wher he has held on. Drakes can behave like drakes but there is a time when it’s not just rough it’s abuse I don’t want a drake like that. Most don’t and when 2 or more gang up on a female it isn’t going to end well for her.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Reread the OP first post. But yes duck sex is rough I see it with my Muscovies. But not to the point where the females are bloody that isn’t acceptable.I have never seen skin and bloody skin just a few missing feathers wher he has held on. Drakes can behave like drakes but there is a time when it’s not just rough it’s abuse I don’t want a drake like that. Most don’t and when 2 or more gang up on a female it isn’t going to end well for her.

I read the OP post before I posed the question. I wasn't asking in response to that post, rather in general. Anthropomorphism can unintentionally lead us to say certain behaviors are dangerous/bad when it's actually normal within a certain spectrum.