Ducks trying to drown each other?

[KaleIAm]

nobody here wants ducks. the boys would just be killed for duck meat and i can’t get more girls i don’t have enough room and anytime i seperate the one she just cries and tries to get back to them

I understand. It is a hard situation. Can you put a divider so she is with only one boy?

 

[Ratchnick]

nobody here wants ducks. the boys would just be killed for duck meat and i can’t get more girls i don’t have enough room and anytime i seperate the one she just cries and tries to get back to them

Your choice then seems to have 3 drakes humanely slaughteted or let your drakes rape your hen to death. This is the reality of raising unsexed ducklings.

 

[AgnesGray]

Your choice then seems to have 3 drakes humanely slaughteted or let your drakes rape your hen to death. This is the reality of raising unsexed ducklings.

x2, unfortunately 100% true.

 

[KaleIAm]

Your choice then seems to have 3 drakes humanely slaughteted or let your drakes rape your hen to death. This is the reality of raising unsexed ducklings.

Yes...

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

you do not need to kill any of them! is there anyway you could bring your girl indoors for awhile? just until you can fix the situation.

you said you couldn’t get anymore girls, but what about just one more? if your coop isn’t big enough, just bring them indoors at night and let them play outside during the day

 

[AgnesGray]

you do not need to kill any of them! is there anyway you could bring your girl indoors for awhile? just until you can fix the situation.

you said you couldn’t get anymore girls, but what about just one more? if your coop isn’t big enough, just bring them indoors at night and let them play outside during the day

Then she will have two girls at risk instead of one. Rehoming (often making them someone else's dinner) or separating are the only other possible solutions.

 

[LT71689]

you do not need to kill any of them! is there anyway you could bring your girl indoors for awhile? just until you can fix the situation.

you said you couldn’t get anymore girls, but what about just one more? if your coop isn’t big enough, just bring them indoors at night and let them play outside during the day

One more girl is only enough if they permanently separate the girls from the boys so that they never have an opportunity to even see each other. It doesnt sound like they're set up for this kind of undertaking.The number of girls they'd need on the low end to keep the flock integrated would be 16 but that still might not be enough.

OP, your best bet is rehoming the girl. Because she's a layer it might be a little easier finding her a home that wont eat her. Boys are harder to rehome and do often wind up as food, and you have the largest number of boys, so keep the boys.

They cry when you separate them because they've grown up together, but they WILL eventually get used to it if you rehome her. It's more cruel to leave her with a gang of boys who will abuse her probably to death than it is to make them feel temporary separation woes. And no, just pulling her out of the flock "when it gets bad" and then putting her back in to repeat the process is not okay either, that's essentially just letting a torture victims wounds heal well enough to sustain more torture.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

One more girl is only enough if they permanently separate the girls from the boys so that they never have an opportunity to even see each other. It doesnt sound like they're set up for this kind of undertaking.The number of girls they'd need on the low end to keep the flock integrated would be 16 but that still might not be enough.

OP, your best bet is rehoming the girl. Because she's a layer it might be a little easier finding her a home that wont eat her. Boys are harder to rehome and do often wind up as food, and you have the largest number of boys, so keep the boys.

They cry when you separate them because they've grown up together, but they WILL eventually get used to it if you rehome her. It's more cruel to leave her with a gang of boys who will abuse her probably to death than it is to make them feel temporary separation woes. And no, just pulling her out of the flock "when it gets bad" and then putting her back in to repeat the process is not okay either, that's essentially just letting a torture victims wounds heal well enough to sustain more torture.

They could have the girls indoors at night permanently. Then just let them out in a seperate area during the day?

 

[LT71689]

They could have the girls indoors at night permanently. Then just let them out in a seperate area during the day?

If they have enough yard space for a completely separated area where the boys wont even see them. If the boys can see the girls, having a fence between them wont deter them from fighting over the girls - they dont reason "we dont have access to them so we might as well not beat the crap out of each other". They'd have to be entirely separate all the time. Even letting them supervised mingle once in a while would be super confusing to them could still spark turf wars between the boys who dont realize the girls arent staying anyway. Cooping the 4 boys up for a whole day while the girls go out and alternating them is also not great.

Ultimately separating a flock like that and setting up an indoor space thats duck appropriate is a much bigger PITA than most are willing to take on (or consider needing before getting ducks)

 

[sourland]

Get rid of the drakes, get rid of the duck, permanently separate them = they will injure/kill/drown her if you do nothing.