Duck pairings: is one drake and one hen okay?

[dirge]

We lost one of our two ducks the other night, sad but wheel keeps turning right?

We had two drakes - brothers that grew up with each other.
Now our 2-year old Rouen boy is lonely so we of course have to get this social creature another companion but wonder if it's okay to get him a lady-friend?


Will one drake and one hen be an okay pairing?
I know the guys are really horny and are fairly aggressive about "satisfying their needs"
I know it bad to have two drakes and one hen, but is one-to-one okay?


A Few say that there should be 3-4 hens per drake but others still disagree.
I'd like to know your thoughts before picking up a bad, possibly even fatal pairing. We love our birds so i'd really like to make sure we do best for them.

 

[ella]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I don't know about Rouens, but I have a pair of Buff ducks, I've had them for 4 years and they do just great. They adore each other and the boy never gets too naughty. They're in with my chickens and he doesn't even bother them, except to chase away one of my roosters who likes his girl.

Hopefully someone with more duck experience will chime in.

 

[TK Poultry]

I would say try it and if you see missing feathers than you need more hens if you don't see any "off" things then keep them together.

 

[chickenlittle32]

I have mallards, 3 hens to 1 drake...he wants to breed so aggressively that he'd chase the hens off their nests....we had to clip his wing and pen him up to leave the girls alone....

 

[gryeyes]

I'm hoping a pair (of Cayugas) is fine, too. Because that's what I've got... I had hoped for two girls, but I just love to watch Louie's devotion to Thelma. They're only about 17 or 18 weeks old, so I don't know if he's going to turn into a horn dog yet. They have demonstrated some courting behavior in the pool, with the head bobbing and crossing their necks across each others' body. Cute, cute, cute.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, too.