Ducks Mating Questions

[Luvmyducks]

We have one male and 3 female Magpies. They are about 5 months old and have started to show signs of mating. Today the male held the female down in the pool!! Is that normal? This may be a silly questions but will he drowned her?? How often do ducks mate? Is there anything I should worry about with one male and 3 females?

 

[lovin my birds]

That is a good ratio of females to males. I have three females for each of my males and they do great(no fightning). No he will not drown her, it is their way of mating. She will be almost completely underwater and you will only be able to see her head. Sometime her head will get pushed under the water but she can hold her breath and it usually isnt under for very long. And no queston is silly, its the way we learn.

 

[newbyduckmom]

We have three drakes and one hen....when they started mating, we separated them because all three drakes would compete and the hen came close to getting drowned or severely beaten up. (Its very true what they say about ratios of drakes to hens). But that was because there were three of them and one of her. It was pretty scary.

Water seems to be an aphrodisiac for the ducks. Let them near the wading pool or our pond and it's party time!

 

[agregg15]

Quote:

Yeah it's normal when a drake seems to be drowning a duck. Mine do it when they mate.

 

[Luvmyducks]

Thanks! It was pretty scary to see her being held under the water like that! How often do ducks mate?? I cannot even imagine what my kids are going to think when they see this!!!

 

[cat1994]

Quote:
I remember when I first saw it I freaked out also but my dad told me all was well and that as long as I have a good make to female ratio every thing will be all right. I'm not really sure how often ducks mate. My ducks seem to mate every time I give them new water, (they get really excited and one thing leads to another) which is every day, but I'm pretty sure I’m not seeing every time they are mating, so I can’t really give you a right answer.

 

[sourland]

Generally, drowning is only a problem when multiple drakes are gang breeding the same hen. With your ratio everything whould be fine.

 

[105600]

My "Three's Company" Ducks... Jack with Janet and Cindy

Jack keeps very busy with his girls... and yes, I've seen him nearly drown them. Don't know if you knew..or want to know.. lol.. but did you know that the male duck penis is corkscrew shaped?? I read about it, but when I had to pull Jack off of his daughter the other day.... it was quite interesting to see!

 

[LemonDoodles]

There is a slow motion video of it somewhere out there (of said corkscrew) We just had to know how this was all happening through all those feathers... It's pretty weird.

 

[newbyduckmom]

The interesting little facts I learn on BYC!

Can't wait to pass that little tidbit on to my husband....