Unfortunately the other day we lost our favorite male mallard, Blofeld, to a predator. He was already not getting along with his two mallard brothers, so we had him in a separate adjoining pen and coop. They were all OK with each other in the yard when they had room to run about, but when locked up at night they needed to have a fence between them. (They also needed to be able to see each other, which is why their coops were side by side with a screen adjoining them. They couldn't sleep together, but neither would they sleep apart.)
So, we now have any empty pen, and we would like to add a couple of new ducks. We were thinking about adding females, but given one-to-one ratios here, we wanted to go with larger ducks that could fend off the boys, at least when they are in the yard and pond together. And then keep them in separate sleeping quarters since we're already set up for that.
Our thoughts were leaning on towards getting a couple of female Swedish ducks. They have a reputation for being calm, they should end up about twice the weight of our mallards, and they are pretty.
Good idea? Bad idea? Anyone have any thoughts about this mix, both in terms of breeds and sex ratios?
Getting two more males seems like a bad idea. (I'm just envisioning hormone induced fights all day long.) But we don't want the females getting abused.
Summertime we could handle more ducks, but it's more an issue of the winter when we move them to our covered porch. (And this winter in Boston we were very grateful to have them on the covered porch! With them occasionally coming inside on especially cold nights.) Four in two adjoining, but separated pairs is probably the most we can handle.
Anyhow, I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts.
So, we now have any empty pen, and we would like to add a couple of new ducks. We were thinking about adding females, but given one-to-one ratios here, we wanted to go with larger ducks that could fend off the boys, at least when they are in the yard and pond together. And then keep them in separate sleeping quarters since we're already set up for that.
Our thoughts were leaning on towards getting a couple of female Swedish ducks. They have a reputation for being calm, they should end up about twice the weight of our mallards, and they are pretty.
Good idea? Bad idea? Anyone have any thoughts about this mix, both in terms of breeds and sex ratios?
Getting two more males seems like a bad idea. (I'm just envisioning hormone induced fights all day long.) But we don't want the females getting abused.
Summertime we could handle more ducks, but it's more an issue of the winter when we move them to our covered porch. (And this winter in Boston we were very grateful to have them on the covered porch! With them occasionally coming inside on especially cold nights.) Four in two adjoining, but separated pairs is probably the most we can handle.
Anyhow, I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts.
