Female over-mating?

[PikeDoss]

I've tried searching threads but usually over-mating involves male to female balance. I currently have 11 ducks with 1 drake and I maybe see him get with one once a day if ever. The problem lies with the 11 females. They are non-stop on each other every time they have swimming access to the point they have head/neck patches, sinus issues and occasional limping for the day. All are under 1 yr old ranging hatch between March and July of last year. I've read that this can be seen as practice and/or dominance. Is it normal to this extent or can I hopefully chalk this up to the young age and upcoming Spring?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Funny it's usually because of the drake over mating.
But yes what you are seeing is their age and hormones dominance also Not much can be done except separate the girls who are getting it the worse but where everyone can still see each other.
Is your drake younger than the girls? My Runner drake has 6 females and they are constantly throwing themselves at him, now if he is mating all in one day I don't know this time of year it's too cold to sit out and watch. But my girls do hop on top of each other often.

 

[chickens really]

You don't have enough Drakes..You need to separate the Pen and have 2 Drakes with his smaller flock of Hens. You need balance..

 

[PikeDoss]

Separation might be difficult as I'd pretty much have to separate them all. It is insane to watch but I've seen one get with another, followed by a different duck getting on her too, then she will turn around and get on one that was just on her. Literally musical chairs. My drake is the youngest and is a rescue that I got (him and 2 females) when they were about 7 weeks old in August. I've seen him have some success but a lot of the females like to let him get on them and then dip/throw him off within seconds. I have had to separate my Rouen as she has had bubbly eyes twice now from it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like he is just young and the girls are getting the best of him right now.

If you can't separate then getting another drake probably wouldn't work because the drakes would probably end up being aggressive towards each other and possibly the females too. What your doing giving the girls time to heal from this craziness is the best you can do.

 

[PikeDoss]

You don't have enough Drakes..You need to separate the Pen and have 2 Drakes with his smaller flock of Hens. You need balance..

Does this mean if I didn't have a drake and all females this issue would still occur due to balance? Really curious since I thought they might be similar to chickens where without a rooster, they are fine and a hen might semi take a similar role minus the mating. Last time I tried separating any from each other, they pretty much all wouldn't budge from the divider and seemed very stressed out. Was hoping this might be a hormone thing that passes versus needing to add drakes and separate.

 

[JedJackson]

I've tried searching threads but usually over-mating involves male to female balance. I currently have 11 ducks with 1 drake and I maybe see him get with one once a day if ever. The problem lies with the 11 females. They are non-stop on each other every time they have swimming access to the point they have head/neck patches, sinus issues and occasional limping for the day. All are under 1 yr old ranging hatch between March and July of last year. I've read that this can be seen as practice and/or dominance. Is it normal to this extent or can I hopefully chalk this up to the young age and upcoming Spring?

Unless you're planning on hatching eggs it doesn't matter much. If you are planning on hatching eggs you'll just need to be extra vigilant with candling. I wouldn't get another drake and I wouldn't worry too much about the females mounting each other. That will sort itself out later, when your drake and ducks mature some more. The ducks will probably lose interest and the drake will probably start to intervene if he sees it.

 

[chickens really]

Does this mean if I didn't have a drake and all females this issue would still occur due to balance? Really curious since I thought they might be similar to chickens where without a rooster, they are fine and a hen might semi take a similar role minus the mating. Last time I tried separating any from each other, they pretty much all wouldn't budge from the divider and seemed very stressed out. Was hoping this might be a hormone thing that passes versus needing to add drakes and separate.

Your in a real Pickle..The Hens know he is a Drake. Regardless if he is to immature to successfully breed. Ducks are very sexual during mating season. my young Call Drake Fabio is trying to mate but misses more than anything..My one older Hen breeds him and the younger Hen..I have two pens with one Drake for each group of Hens..

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Once their pecking order is established it should help. But it sounds like you have some very frustrated females. How many water areas do you have?

 

[PikeDoss]

One other thought and hope might be that for the last few weeks that have had limited access to swimming water so maybe they are going crazy when they get a chance to range and have access to the cement water tub. Currently in the final stages of expanding their covered pen to about 120' x 25' which has a 1,300 gallon pond in it. Maybe once they have access to deeper water all day things might spread out over the day versus go crazy all at one time?