First Spring w/ Ducks & Chickens

[Quackattack717]

Hi guys,

It’s our first Spring with ducks & chickens. My husband fears our drake Muscovy is going to be too much for our females in their enclosure. They have no escape. I would like to get more female ducks, but he doesn’t want too. He’s already pretty rough with them, I was warned mating was not pleasant but I just hate to see him chase and hold down all my girls out there. They run from him, fly away from him. His main girl (our female Muscovy) will double team one of the other girls with him so she doesn’t have to do the deed with him. Besides this side of him, he’s a great pet drake. He’s got quite the personality and he enjoys talking, treats, being held by my husband, short flights, and his girls of course. My husband thinks he’s only going to get more aggressive with Spring approaching and said he wants to let him out of the enclosure during the day to free range. We built the enclosure because we lost a young duck & chicken to hawks. My husband thinks our male is large enough and that he’d be safe. I’m not so sure. Opinions? Advice?

 

[Quackattack717]

 

[johntfs]

Ducks, including Muscovys, are still prey animals. A larger duck might deter some predators but not all of them. Racoons, ferrets/weasels and, yes, hawks will attack and kill ducks if they can get to them.

At them same time, if you have ducks and chickens together, there's a good chance your drake will kill some of the the chicken hens through forced mating. Chickens just don't have the biology to cope with "duck dongs" and they can easily be hurt or killed.

 

[Quackattack717]

Ducks, including Muscovys, are still prey animals. A larger duck might deter some predators but not all of them. Racoons, ferrets/weasels and, yes, hawks will attack and kill ducks if they can get to them.

At them same time, if you have ducks and chickens together, there's a good chance your drake will kill some of the the chicken hens through forced mating. Chickens just don't have the biology to cope with "duck dongs" and they can easily be hurt or killed.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, that he still could get attacked, killed, & eaten regardless of how large he is. My idea was either to block off an area for him in the enclosure, or set up a separate enclosure for him outside of the original.
Our drake has never tried to go after one of our hens, we do have a rooster? He is very docile and protective of his ladies (as of right now). We’ll have to keep an eye out for that, but he’s never shown interest in the chickens.

 

[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy drake has no interest in the chicken hens either. I'd do the latter of what you said either block off an are for him inside the run or build him a separate enclousure. This time of year is rough my Muscovy females handle their Muscovy drake pretty well and by Summer things won't be as bad as they are now. If you have a large dog crate you can even put him inside that for over night so you don't have to change the inside of your coop to accommodate him.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi guys,

It’s our first Spring with ducks & chickens. My husband fears our drake Muscovy is going to be too much for our females in their enclosure. They have no escape. I would like to get more female ducks, but he doesn’t want too. He’s already pretty rough with them, I was warned mating was not pleasant but I just hate to see him chase and hold down all my girls out there. They run from him, fly away from him. His main girl (our female Muscovy) will double team one of the other girls with him so she doesn’t have to do the deed with him. Besides this side of him, he’s a great pet drake. He’s got quite the personality and he enjoys talking, treats, being held by my husband, short flights, and his girls of course. My husband thinks he’s only going to get more aggressive with Spring approaching and said he wants to let him out of the enclosure during the day to free range. We built the enclosure because we lost a young duck & chicken to hawks. My husband thinks our male is large enough and that he’d be safe. I’m not so sure. Opinions? Advice?

Have you considered rehoming him? I don't think letting a lone drake free-range would be the best idea.

 

[chickens really]

How many Hens do you have for the Drake?
Is he causing injury or just breeding?

 

[Quackattack717]

My Muscovy drake has no interest in the chicken hens either. I'd do the latter of what you said either block off an are for him inside the run or build him a separate enclousure. This time of year is rough my Muscovy females handle their Muscovy drake pretty well and by Summer things won't be as bad as they are now. If you have a large dog crate you can even put him inside that for over night so you don't have to change the inside of your coop to accommodate him.

Our coop actually has a front & back with a door in between. So him and our female are separate at night unless they decide they want to sleep together in the back. We’d just have to come up with a way to separate him some days to give the girls a rest! We love him dearly, he’s just a little insane with the mating but he’s just coming into adult hood and it’s his first Spring!

 

[Quackattack717]

Have you considered rehoming him? I don't think letting a lone drake free-range would be the best idea.

We don’t want to rehome him, we love him regardless of him being an Ahole sometimes and chasing all the girls around when he wants some! My husband got fed up once and thought about getting rid of him but we wouldn’t want him to go somewhere he would get eaten, and chances are he would.

 

[Quackattack717]

How many Hens do you have for the Drake?
Is he causing injury or just breeding?

Currently we have 4 females, one Muscovy, one Mallard (we originally had two but one got taken by a hawk), and two Welsh Harlequin’s. I would like to get a couple more ducks, preferably another Muscovy or two..a mallard, and maybe another different breed. 4 more ducks to the flock, but my husband likes the flock how it is and is unsure if he wants to make it larger. No serious injuries, my mallard had something wrong with her nose, I guess a bruise. People were thinking she flew into something, which may have happened when she was fleeing from our drake (but that’s outside of the enclosure when they’re free ranging) They all seem fine after it happens they just don’t initially want it to happen and run away and he catches & holds them down.