Duck Ratio and Age

My ducks never started laying that earlier. I rather thought that it was closer to chickens...5 to 6 months or age for the first egg.

One drake to 4 ducks is lovely.

Two drakes in the same enclosure, if they grow up together, might be just fine, and might be horrid and impossible. How it works out for you depends on two things:

1. the individual personalities of the ducks (the fact that they are growing up together is a big help)

2. How much space they have to run away from each other. Specifically watch out for spots where one can be pinned down or cornered by another.

 

Ideally 2-3 per drake so 4 per would be fine, frankly, you can never have "too many ducks" the more the better, drakes can be a bit much otherwise and even do harm to females.

16wks? that sounds awfully young. While i don't have that breed, i have duck come into lay at 4mths but no sooner.. averaging 5-6mths some later depending on when hatched, ducks are seasonal layers so many who are still young by decreased light and temps don't come into lay till following spring.

Fertility wise? same as females 4-6mths but i think and have found most males get pretty in the game for sure by the early aging, i have definitely had fertile males at under 1yo.

 

We started out with the same amount, 5 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Indian Runners, 4 ladies and 1 male of each breed...we lost 2 Indian runner girls at just 2 days old (to much love from the 4yr old...) and lost one of our Buff girls to some predator earlier this summer....and so now we're down to 2 Indian females and 1 drake, and 3 Buff girls and 1 drake...So far so good, my Buff drake is very calm and docile and bows down to the Indian drake, and even the girls....I haven't even seen him do the deed yet!

But got my first egg from one of my girls at exactly 20weeks and 1 day (it was a buff) and she has been laying daily since...started out small and inconsistent in quality, but slowly getting better!