Duck Behavior questions ?

[Jiannax11]

I have two Pekin ducks and one Indian Runner. One Pekin and the Indian Runner are males. The two male ducks Bob their heads up and down a lot, does this mean anything? Are they just trying to impress and show off to the female?

 

[Amiga]

Yup, pretty much. Two drakes is most likely too much for one girl. Drakes, when they reach sexual maturity, may gang up on the female and cause injury or worse. Please protect her. I cannot say 100% for sure, but most of the time if there are fewer than three females per drake (and sometimes even with good ratios), ducks suffer.

 

[Jiannax11]

If we were to go out and get another female or two, would this help?

 

[Amiga]

I think it would. In any case, it is good to watch the relationships between ducks. They can act quite unexpectedly, and I feel their people need to be willing to intervene if it looks like someone's well being is at risk.

 

[Realtree4]

I think it would. In any case, it is good to watch the relationships between ducks. They can act quite unexpectedly, and I feel their people need to be willing to intervene if it looks like someone's well being is at risk.

This. We had 3 drake and 3 ducks and there weren't any problems...at all! They were young and I thought I had some time to rehome the two drakes. Then suddenly, one morning I went out there and all three drakes were trying to mate at the same time with only one duck. They were 18 weeks old, thought I had a few more weeks. Nope! So needless to say, we now have 1 drake and 3 ducks and the world is a safe place for those ducks.

Live and learn....and I wouldn't have more than 1 boy to 3-4 girls again.....

 

[Jiannax11]

My dad doesn't want to get another female duck, but he was thinking about making another pen to seperate the two hens with the female duck from the two male ducks. Is that a good idea?

 

[Amiga]

Separation should work.