Help! I don't know what to do...

[Remy_Flock]

I bought a duck, believed to be a female pekin. She is now a few weeks old.
Saturday the 15th I bought a duckling from a feed store to keep her company. They get along very well and have stayed together since then. My problem is, I had the new one vent sexed and we think it is a male. I would really not like to have any males, to avoid mating and potential multiplying. I've been weighing my options... do I get rid of the "male" and buy a female? If I do, will the other get depressed? I would like my female to have a friend for when I move her outside, but right now I'm so lost...

These are my first ducks, as much research as I've done, I'm still at a loss on this... HELP!!

 

[Pyxis]

When vent sexing, a male is very obvious. To be blunt, they have a penis. Did you see a penis when vent sexing?

Don't worry about multiplying. Pekins do not usually go broody and try to hatch. And if she did, just don't let her have any eggs. That way, there won't be any ducklings.

 

[Remy_Flock]

When vent sexing, a male is very obvious. To be blunt, they have a penis. Did you see a penis when vent sexing?

Don't worry about multiplying. Pekins do not usually go broody and try to hatch. And if she did, just don't let her have any eggs. That way, there won't be any ducklings.

To be honest these being my first ducks, I don't know what I'm doing when venting. I watched a video, read up on it, and tried it... and it's so small it's truly hard to see and tell. I had someone watching and they think it's a male based on how my female looked.

And this may sound dumb, but what is "going broody"? And if she does lay, I just take them from her?

Is it a problem to only have one of each? I'm not in an area to be able to have more. And I don't want a male that will get aggressive with her.

 

[Pyxis]

To be honest these being my first ducks, I don't know what I'm doing when venting. I watched a video, read up on it, and tried it... and it's so small it's truly hard to see and tell. I had someone watching and they think it's a male based on how my female looked.

And this may sound dumb, but what is "going broody"? And if she does lay, I just take them from her?

Is it a problem to only have one of each? I'm not in an area to be able to have more. And I don't want a male that will get aggressive with her.

If you tried to vent sex both of them but don't have experience with it, it's very possible that they were mis-sexed. A penis is pretty obvious, it does pop right out. I have experience doing it and was even able to do my new Calls. They are very tiny and the penises on even the smallest males were still obvious. It's also possible that they're both males. You can quite possibly not open a vent up enough to see the penis if you're not experienced. It's also possible to really hurt a duckling trying to do this, so I don't recommend that you try again unless someone experienced shows you how first. Plus now that they're older their vents have lost some elasticity so doing it again now would be harder and less accurate anyway.

So what I'm saying is, don't count on them being the genders you think they are, lol.

Broody means she starts laying on the eggs trying to hatch them. Just take the eggs so she can't hatch them and no ducklings.

As to whether having a one to one ratio will be a problem, it might be. Some do fine as pairs but some males just run females ragged trying to mate with them. I've kept pairs with no problems in the past, but it does depend on the individual drake.

 

[Remy_Flock]

If you tried to vent sex both of them but don't have experience with it, it's very possible that they were mis-sexed. A penis is pretty obvious, it does pop right out. I have experience doing it and was even able to do my new Calls. They are very tiny and the penises on even the smallest males were still obvious. It's also possible that they're both males. You can quite possibly not open a vent up enough to see the penis if you're not experienced. It's also possible to really hurt a duckling trying to do this, so I don't recommend that you try again unless someone experienced shows you how first. Plus now that they're older their vents have lost some elasticity so doing it again now would be harder and less accurate anyway.

So what I'm saying is, don't count on them being the genders you think they are, lol.

Broody means she starts laying on the eggs trying to hatch them. Just take the eggs so she can't hatch them and no ducklings.

As to whether having a one to one ratio will be a problem, it might be. Some do fine as pairs but some males just run females ragged trying to mate with them. I've kept pairs with no problems in the past, but it does depend on the individual drake.

Thank you! I think for now then I'll just see how it goes and I'm sure soon I'll see whether they are male or female.

Any idea a breed on my small one?