Ended up with a two male- three female flock. Thoughts?

[myducklingjourney]

Hi everyone! As you might know from my other posts around here I am a beginner duck owner. I have 3 pekin ducks, 2 females and one male of about three months old. I know that to avoid over mating in a duck flock, you'd need at least three females per male, and so, I decided to get myself two more females. So I went to someone's farm and they had rouen and pekin ducks, as well as some rather beautiful crossbreeds of the two. I went there looking for two rouen females of about two months old, as that was the age of my pekins at the time. I did get one confirmed rouen female slightly older than the pekins, and one cross (it's really pretty, so I said why not get a cross as well,instead of another purebred rouen, for a lowered price and more diversity in my flock), of about 1 and a half month to two months old. It did not start quacking yet, it was still peeping, so no way to ensure that it was indeed a female. But the owner had females and males separated which he vent checked, and he told me it was a female. Convinced, I went home. To this day tho, no quacking, more of a raspy drake sound ,also, it is larger than the females, although younger. So now I am all but sure that it is indeed a drake. So here I stand with 2 drakes and 3 hens..should I get three more females now? That wouldnt be cheap so I would not yet be able to do it, at least for now. What do you think?

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Hi everyone! As you might know from my other posts around here I am a beginner duck owner. I have 3 pekin ducks, 2 females and one male of about three months old. I know that to avoid over mating in a duck flock, you'd need at least three females per male, and so, I decided to get myself two more females. So I went to someone's farm and they had rouen and pekin ducks, as well as some rather beautiful crossbreeds of the two. I went there looking for two rouen females of about two months old, as that was the age of my pekins at the time. I did get one confirmed rouen female slightly older than the pekins, and one cross (it's really pretty, so I said why not get a cross as well,instead of another purebred rouen, for a lowered price and more diversity in my flock), of about 1 and a half month to two months old. It did not start quacking yet, it was still peeping, so no way to ensure that it was indeed a female. But the owner had females and males separated which he vent checked, and he told me it was a female. Convinced, I went home. To this day tho, no quacking, more of a raspy drake sound ,also, it is larger than the females, although younger. So now I am all but sure that it is indeed a drake. So here I stand with 2 drakes and 3 hens..should I get three more females now? That wouldnt be cheap so I would not yet be able to do it, at least for now. What do you think?

How much space have you got for your ducks? I had 1/1 , and they were a happy pair, can you separate the pairs?

 

[Canadian Wind]

So here I stand with 2 drakes and 3 hens..should I get three more females now? That wouldnt be cheap so I would not yet be able to do it, at least for now. What do you think?

Welcome to duck addiction!

It will all depend on the drakes, honestly, but you won't be able to tell until they are adults. My recommendation is to (always) get more ducks if you possibly can. I may be biased in this opinion.

 

[myducklingjourney]

How much space have you got for your ducks? I had 1/1 , and they were a happy pair, can you separate the pairs?

Well they have a decently sized (about 3 square meters) chicken tractor where they only sleep in at night. I am going to hopefully build them a bigger coop next to the chicken's one în the near future though. Separation would not really be an option as of now, as I don't have any other establishment to house them in other than their current place I'm keeping them at night. Plus I freerange them all with my chickens everyday for the whole day, and at night they all go to bed together, so I would not be able to do any full separation. But I'm hopeful that by the time they approach full sexual maturity I'd be able to get more hens.

Thank you for your reply!


P.S.: The males are really really calm and so far have never fought over anything. The females seem to be more feisty at times

 

[myducklingjourney]

Welcome to duck addiction!

It will all depend on the drakes, honestly, but you won't be able to tell until they are adults. My recommendation is to (always) get more ducks if you possibly can. I may be biased in this opinion.

Thank you for your reply!

The males are really really calm and so far have never fought over anything. The females seem to be more feisty at times
I also see the getting more ducks option as the best one, and I hope that I'll get some more adult hens by the time they are sexually mature.

In the hatching season I'll surely get new ducklings to raise, as they are definitely very addicting!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Depending on where you are (ie, if you have a cold winter!) you may not need to worry until Spring comes along. But, why wait?

I started this year with ten ducks, lost four, and now have thirty. And I'm trading some drakes for new ducklings, and have eggs in the incubator right now. LOL!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I am going to disagree with the idea that the problem is over-mating. I have had drakes have 5 girls and still "over-mate" one. I think the problem is more about pecking order and drakes are basically chauvinistic jerks who will rape any female who they decide shouldn't be in the group. When I had two drakes the problem was much worse. They would each rape the other guys girls. Even when I got rid of one of them, the other would still attack the females that were not his. My drakes were all sweet when young. Then, around the first spring (March), their hormones kicked in and the went from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. That is when they fought with each other and started hurting the girls. I do not have chickens, but some on here have had them hurt their chickens as well. As someone who has tried having two drakes and just getting more girls, I would not recommend it. Instead, I would suggest you re-home one of the drakes if it turns outs out you really have two. Just my experience.

 

[myducklingjourney]

Whoa, that does sound intimidating. Wouldn't have thought drakes can be such jerks. Thinking back on it, it would be kind of the sellers' mistake for selling me a male (if it does turn out to be one), while he was claiming it to be a female. So maybe, if it turns out to be a confirmed drake,I'll talk the seller into making "a trade", him giving me one girl in return for the drake. I could not bring myself to rehoming the pekin drake however, as I had grown too attached, raising him since a little yellow fluffball. Thanks a lot for sharing your (what for me would be traumatizing) experience!!

 

[Yardmom]

I also have had 1/1 ducks, but in a larger flock. My ducks free range during the day and have a very large night pen. I have had no problems with overmated hens and very few drakes that fight. Space, drake personalities, and human tolerance all play into what works. You do need to let them work out their own pecking order. Removing drakes for fighting will make issues worse when you put them back together. (Not putting them together until after mating season may also work)

 

[Callender Girl]

My first four little runner ducklings turned out to be three drakes and one female. Of course, I expected the worst and went back to my breeder who sold me the only adult hen she was willing to part with. I still worried about three boys and two girls, But the joke was on me.

Quinn, my original hen, really appeared to be jealous of the newcomer. She would chase off Paige and actively flirt with the boys. A completely brazen little hussy!

Quinn has since passed, and with my current flock of five girls and two drakes. every spring Sheldon and Layne turn into complete idiots, trying to breed all the hens all the time. And, while Sheldon and the other original boys never fought among themselves, he and Layne batter each other throughout the breeding season.

In other words, hope for the best and prepare for the worst as best you can -- and good luck!