Has anyone bred Pekin and welsh harlequin ducks together??

[DavisDucks]

Hi there. We're hanging in there staying at home and hoping and praying this will soon pass.
Thanks for checking in. It's such a blessing to go out each day and have our animals bring smiles to our faces.

Weve almost finished our bigger run, just putting the metal roof on today or tomorrow. My husband still has to go to work for the next few days (wish he didnt). Weve tilled a spot for a huge garden and tilled an oval to make my digging easy for the ducks "lazy river". I am sooooo excited to get that done. Will be at least a week or 2 tho. Hoping it actually turns out like the plan that's in my head. My babies have started testing their mating skills. They will bite or grab the neck of their chosen girl, and stomp a foot. It is so funny. But were having to make dividers in the run to keep them seperate..... the 3 & 3 fight Really, Really bad. I keep trying to remind them they're only 1 week apart & supposed to be a big happy family but they're just not listening. Hoping it's just temporary. Did you ever have that problem? Did it last long?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are you talking about your drakes? oh yes when they first start with the hormones they can be crazy. It takes a while for that to calm down. Think years So far my 2 Runner drakes are behaving with each other but I saw the 2 of them on one female yesterday so the big pool is going up it's too deep and It worries me about drowning.

I hope when you get finished you'll share pictures. And would love to see your ducks now that they are almost grown up. I bet they are gorgeous.

 

[DavisDucks]

Are you talking about your drakes? oh yes when they first start with the hormones they can be crazy. It takes a while for that to calm down. Think years So far my 2 Runner drakes are behaving with each other but I saw the 2 of them on one female yesterday so the big pool is going up it's too deep and It worries me about drowning.

I hope when you get finished you'll share pictures. And would love to see your ducks now that they are almost grown up. I bet they are gorgeous.

Sure are. I'll take some new pics today. The younger 3, we had 1 that was a little bigger so we thought it was the male (the older 3, the bigger is the male. Celeste is now Cooper.) But, it turns out that the smaller 1, is the drake. And she is the only other 1, other than Joy, that has mixed browns in her chest feathers, just like their mama (Emmie-Welsh Harl.) Not 100% sure of the sex with Callie yet. Havent seen her try to mate at all or sound like a male, but shes always up front, ready to go head to head with Cooper, the drake from the older 3. Will a female do that? I sure hope so, I would have 2 drakes & 1 fenale in that set if so. Sorry, I know it gets confusing. All 6 end up fighting, after 2 or 3 start going head to head. I literally had to pry beaks off of one another. I was shocked. So needless to say, I have been very careful since not to let them get mixed in a fight again. We'll see how it goes, I guess. Hopefully wont last forever tho.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like human siblings! lol How old are they now?

 

[DavisDucks]

Sounds like human siblings! lol How old are they now?

1st set- approx. 13 weeks,
2nd set- approx.12weeks.
1st batch was born Xmas Eve, Xmas Day, & day after.
2nd set was a week later, also in a 2½-3 day period
Yes, I could've just set about 3months old. Sorry

 

[Miss Lydia]

only 3 months old , so they are play practicing mating behavior. too young for the real thing

I bet they are trying for dominance.

 

[DavisDucks]

only 3 months old , so they are play practicing mating behavior. too young for the real thing

Yes, for sure. I thought it was a little early also. But they have the back of the neck biting thing down, and that's it.

 

[DavisDucks]

Are you talking about your drakes? oh yes when they first start with the hormones they can be crazy. It takes a while for that to calm down. Think years So far my 2 Runner drakes are behaving with each other but I saw the 2 of them on one female yesterday so the big pool is going up it's too deep and It worries me about drowning.

I hope when you get finished you'll share pictures. And would love to see your ducks now that they are almost grown up. I bet they are gorgeous.

Yes, I've always worried about drowning also. I actually dont let Emmie & Max in their deeper pool either together, or without me right there. Hes so much bigger than her & I've watched him pushing her under and for so long it had me freaked out. So, yes, the shallow pool is what they have now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They sure keep us busy!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Weve almost finished our bigger run, just putting the metal roof on today or tomorrow. My husband still has to go to work for the next few days (wish he didnt). Weve tilled a spot for a huge garden and tilled an oval to make my digging easy for the ducks "lazy river". I am sooooo excited to get that done. Will be at least a week or 2 tho. Hoping it actually turns out like the plan that's in my head. My babies have started testing their mating skills. They will bite or grab the neck of their chosen girl, and stomp a foot. It is so funny. But were having to make dividers in the run to keep them seperate..... the 3 & 3 fight Really, Really bad. I keep trying to remind them they're only 1 week apart & supposed to be a big happy family but they're just not listening. Hoping it's just temporary. Did you ever have that problem? Did it last long?

You might have to put up a "no fly zone" fence which basically just runs alongside of the fence that divides them now a least a foot apart. I've had to do that because the drakes were ripping each other apart through the fence.

Then, this morning I heard a lot of chattering and commotion and saw that one of my young drakes had somehow gotten into the big run and was busy raping and pillaging. He had to have flown over that 4' fence so now I'm going to have to "redneck" out the run with some plastic netting from the roof of the pen down to the top of the divider fence!