Drakes keep or not?

[Kbduckmom]

Okay y’all. I’ve been having a debate for quite some time now and want some thoughts, preferably experiences you’ve had. We got our ducks as pets back in May and have ended up with 3 drakes (2 Welsh, 1 Buff) and 4 hens (1 Buff, 2 Khaki, 1 Cayuga).

I’ve read most places that people have problems with too many drakes, but some places where they’ve made it work. The rest of my family is definitely against culling 2 males (pets), but I don’t want to put my hens in danger (eggs).

I plan to hatch some next spring to add to our group and we plan on culling those males for sure.

I’ve looked into rehoming our current drakes, but most other people in the area have the same issue.

So my question is, where did you draw the line when it came to rehoming or culling drakes? If you didn’t cull them, what did you do to manage?

 

[Miss Lydia]

When I had more than one Muscovy drake I separate my half acre into 3 sections. I have fencing around the outside so I use plastic poultry fencing and made areas to keep my 3 drakes and their girls in. I did this for years and a couple years ago decided it was best to get down to 1 drake since my females were dying of old age and one of my drakes did too. So they don't get to hatch and I rehomed one drake took me forever to make that decision since he was hatched and raised here. This year I let my one of my Muscovy sit on Runner eggs boy that didn't go so well out of 6 ducklings 5 were drakes. So thankfully 4 got rehomed and I kept one. I am ready to separate again if things get crazy come spring between my 2 Runner drakes. I am hoping I can keep them both. Plus my Muscovy drake.