Has anyone ever adopted more ducklings months after their other ducks get fully grown? If so, what breed did you get and why?

[anonymous99]

I’m thinking about adopting some more ducklings in a few months, but I wanna get a different breed (don’t get me wrong, i love my pekin ducklings, but i definitely wanna try exploring with other different breeds). I’ve decided that despite all that messes that ducklings/ducks make, raising them and taking care of them is what I love. The thing is, I don’t wanna get but like maybe 5 or 6 of them. Has anyone ever adopted a new flock before after adopting one months before? I’m still new to being a duck parent, but I love it. I thought about getting welsh harlequin ducks or swedish ducks, but my local tractor supply doesn’t sell those kinds. I wanna wait until my pekin ducklings are adults before I adopt a new flock. I dread buying ducklings online bc they die easily during the trip, but it’s hard to find ducklings for sale (I’m sure you can understand how hard it is to find ducklings for sale).

 

[Emelyn]

I’m thinking about adopting some more ducklings in a few months, but I wanna get a different breed (don’t get me wrong, i love my pekin ducklings, but i definitely wanna try exploring with other different breeds). I’ve decided that despite all that messes that ducklings/ducks make, raising them and taking care of them is what I love. The thing is, I don’t wanna get but like maybe 5 or 6 of them. Has anyone ever adopted a new flock before after adopting one months before? I’m still new to being a duck parent, but I love it. I thought about getting welsh harlequin ducks or swedish ducks, but my local tractor supply doesn’t sell those kinds. I wanna wait until my pekin ducklings are adults before I adopt a new flock. I dread buying ducklings online bc they die easily during the trip, but it’s hard to find ducklings for sale (I’m sure you can understand how hard it is to find ducklings for sale).

If you want to you can try Craigslist I got my 3 Cayuga ducks from there a few months ago and now they made some ducklings and are happy and healthy. At least where I'm located I usually find an assortment of ducklings on Craigslist such as Khaki Campbells, Rouens, Swedish, Call and WAY more.

 

[fatty and friends]

i got my boys two years ago and then adopted 3 more ducks (not all at the same time) and they are all perfectly fine

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I’m thinking about adopting some more ducklings in a few months, but I wanna get a different breed (don’t get me wrong, i love my pekin ducklings, but i definitely wanna try exploring with other different breeds). I’ve decided that despite all that messes that ducklings/ducks make, raising them and taking care of them is what I love. The thing is, I don’t wanna get but like maybe 5 or 6 of them. Has anyone ever adopted a new flock before after adopting one months before? I’m still new to being a duck parent, but I love it. I thought about getting welsh harlequin ducks or swedish ducks, but my local tractor supply doesn’t sell those kinds. I wanna wait until my pekin ducklings are adults before I adopt a new flock. I dread buying ducklings online bc they die easily during the trip, but it’s hard to find ducklings for sale (I’m sure you can understand how hard it is to find ducklings for sale).

I too have a love for ducks and possibly an addiction. A friend just called me yesterday to tell me about the Dooney and Burke purses because their logo is a duck and it made her immediately think of me (of course I had to buy one simply because of the duck logo). The only advice I would say is that I would highly recommend waiting until you know your current ratio of drakes to hens before adding more. From there you can decide what adjustments need to be made to make sure you have one of the following (or the correct space to separate accordingly):

-A flock with a correct drake to hen ratio (usually 1 drake to 4 hens minimum however, this can be adjusted either lower sometimes for very docile drakes or adding more hens for more feisty drakes)

-All drake flock

-All hen flock

Now I choose to keep my drakes separated except for during hatching season when I pair a single drake at a time with my hens. Otherwise I would have too many, but again if you have the space to separate accordingly go for it.

 

[Newbie6789]

I agree with the drake hen ratio knowledge first, however our drake is super calm and not an overly aggresive breeder. We also added to our flock with various breeds in different stages. We now have: 1 Pekin hen, 2 Muscovy hens, 1 baby muscovy (11 days old) and 1 Muscovy drake, 4 Khaki Campbell hens, 2 Welsh Harlequin hens and 2 Cayuga's (sex unknown - fingers crossed for at least one drake). I decided by color pattern and egg laying for the WH And Cayuga. Strickly egg laying for the KC. I am fortunate to sell the eggs with a few loyal customers.
Now that I have them all - I think next time I add to the flock will be determined by egg laying and LOW noise level . The Pekin and WH's are Noisy!!!
Good luck and enjoy - ducks are so fun (and addictive!!!)

 

[EmmaGRS]

I’m thinking about adopting some more ducklings in a few months, but I wanna get a different breed (don’t get me wrong, i love my pekin ducklings, but i definitely wanna try exploring with other different breeds). I’ve decided that despite all that messes that ducklings/ducks make, raising them and taking care of them is what I love. The thing is, I don’t wanna get but like maybe 5 or 6 of them. Has anyone ever adopted a new flock before after adopting one months before? I’m still new to being a duck parent, but I love it. I thought about getting welsh harlequin ducks or swedish ducks, but my local tractor supply doesn’t sell those kinds. I wanna wait until my pekin ducklings are adults before I adopt a new flock. I dread buying ducklings online bc they die easily during the trip, but it’s hard to find ducklings for sale (I’m sure you can understand how hard it is to find ducklings for sale).

It is a good idea to wait till their adults, but it’s also not a bad idea to.. not wait. If you get ducklings while having adults, you’ll have to wait till they’re the same size, that’s what I’ve always done with my ducks. I buy and hatch several ducks often, and I’ll put them with my main flock and it’ll take a few days, but eventually they’ll establish a “pecking order”. In terms of buying ducks I would suggest Craigslist, that’s where I’ve bought and sold all my ducks, and it’s pretty reliable. Swedish ducks are also brilliant, I used to have some and they were the friendliest. I had 3 adults, then I got another young one for free, (she was alone), I tried putting her with a pair of mallards I had, but they bullied her because she was smaller. Shortly after I bought 4 adult ducks and put them in a pen with the younger female, and after a day or two they were fine. It just takes time, just make sure you don’t put ducks together that are drastically different in size, and always make sure they have enough space.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I had two Rouen Hens that mated with a Mallard Drake. I hatched out 5 baby ducklings out of a home made incubator. Each time the eggs got chilled out of the three times I did this and they look to be all drakes. Four for sure and I am 99% sure the last one will be too. I have read if the eggs get chilled the ducklings will be drakes and so far this has been true for me. I rehomed two of the drakes and went on a road trip and bought two baby Muscovy ducklings that I pray are hens. One is growing a lot faster, they are three weeks old and getting feathers so hopefully they are hens, time will tell. I plan on buying a couple of my Mallard Hens back that I had sold for a food study to a young man from a university. Then I will have Muscovies, Mallards and Rouens. I love my Ducks.

 

[telandra2]

My multi-aged saga:

5 7mos old old Ancona acquired last Sept. Adopted in Cayuga drake over the winter to add color to mostly white flock. 4 Ancona hatched in March -- Cayuga drake never seen courting. Young incubator hatched ducklings kept apart but did integrate as they got older. Both drakes got hormonal just as the teenagers started to get feathers so the March chicks had to be separated.

The low pecking order Cayuga never seemed to get courtship and instead learned to shove the Ancona drake off and use his bigger size to dominate the hens so he was adopted out. 3 Ancona teenagers craigslisted, 1 gorgeous drakeling kept. 4 Ancona April hatch hens who just got their voices adopted in for my teenage drake (1 month younger than the boy). Still kept as 2 flocks due to older drake/dad agressiveness, young drake not hormonal yet and immediately fine with his new harem.

Today everyone has reached breeding age and the 2 flocks mostly keep apart. Either drake will abandon his harem to charge across the yard, or from the front of the house to the back, to get at the other's hens. (I have 3 acres to free range but they stay close to the house.)

I don't know if it was a fluke, but the Cayuga drake seemed to have different courting behavior. He would drop his head low while the girls were headbobbing and chattering at the Ancona drake. Everyone splashed, but none of the girls responded to the Cayuga.