Help please!

[Welshies]

I saw the curled feather so I figured the Pekin was a drake. He was easier to figure out.

Rouens are very simple to figure out too. You have two males, please do something before they turn homosexual and aggressive.
Rouen pair:

 

[MrsTorch]

How long do I have until that happens? The person I got them from bought them from Tractor Supply in April.

 

[Welshies]

How long do I have until that happens? The person I got them from bought them from Tractor Supply in April.

You probably have anywhere from 6-24 weeks. Personally I would just do it now so the leftover male can get used to the female and it's done.
You CAN try to keep only males... but I really advise against this, BECAUSE if their hormones are still high, and they start fighting, you have to introduce a hen in the middle of their breeding season and la de da de da.... very difficult and tedious.. If you don't want babies, collect the eggs, or get only females.

 

[MrsTorch]

Thank you so much for all of your help Welshies! I really appreciate it.

 

[Welshies]

Thank you so much for all of your help Welshies! I really appreciate it.

You're welcome! And thanks for not blowing up at me (I've had some people get SO mad when I tell them they have to get rid of a duck for the good of the flock- but I'd rather not see them come on BYC whining because their drakes turned aggressive and they had to get rid of all of them!)

 

[MrsTorch]

Oh heaven's no.I know nothing about ducks. These two that I have were basically dropped into my lap. I have had chickens for quite a while but only hens. So this is a whole new experience for me. My husband got home pretty late last night so I haven't had a chance to talk to him about which option we will go with.

If we decide to cull, do we need to get any hens? Or will a lone drake be fine on its own? I've been searching for hens since yesterday and I haven't been able to find any. Though, everyone seems to be willing to part with their drakes. Go figure. Lol

 

[Welshies]

Oh heaven's no.I know nothing about ducks. These two that I have were basically dropped into my lap. I have had chickens for quite a while but only hens. So this is a whole new experience for me. My husband got home pretty late last night so I haven't had a chance to talk to him about which option we will go with.

If we decide to cull, do we need to get any hens? Or will a lone drake be fine on its own? I've been searching for hens since yesterday and I haven't been able to find any. Though, everyone seems to be willing to part with their drakes. Go figure. Lol

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Of course. See, it is hard to sell drakes because there's so many already for sale!

Anyhow, ducks are social creatures, so unless a single duckling imprinted on you upon hatching, they need other ducks. You can find him 1-however many hens. Just make sure you have enough space, and that the hens are healthy and around the same age (They can be a year older, or two, just don't get a 5 month drake with a 5 year old hen lol).
Also you may know this already but when you introduce another duck, isolate it for a day or two, to make sure it's not sick. If it seems okay, let it in with the drake in the morning. There will be some fighting, but as long as it's not happening 2 or 3 days later you are okay (they have to sort out who is dominant). 2 ducks won't fight much; wheras if I had a flock of 20 and introduced 2 more ducks, there would be quite a bit of fighting since there's 20 other ranks those 2 ducks must answer to.

 

[MrsTorch]

That makes a lot of sense. I am so glad I found this site! Goodness. I would be so lost! I know I would have figured it out eventually by doing a ton of research. But it's so much better to be able to ask specific questions and have them answered by someone who knows what they are talking about.

 

[Welshies]

That makes a lot of sense. I am so glad I found this site! Goodness. I would be so lost! I know I would have figured it out eventually by doing a ton of research. But it's so much better to be able to ask specific questions and have them answered by someone who knows what they are talking about.

Yes... I admit I'm a little bit addicted to BYC... but oh well.
If you ever need a good reference, get Storey's Guide To Raising Ducks. It's written by Dave Holderread, the owner and founder AND manager of one of the biggest hatcheries in the US. Lots of info in there, and try to find the 2nd edition. It's on Kindle , Kobo, and your iphone iBooks.

 

[MrsTorch]

So, we decide to get rid of the Pekin drake. I was sad to see him go, but the Rouen didn't seem to mind. And he went to a good home with a lot of females to keep him happy. Our Rouen gets along great with our chickens. We recently added 2 females to the coop to keep Reggie (that's the name we decided to use for him. Short for Reginald) company. One is Prkin and the other I think is either mallard or Rouen. I'm excited to start getting eggs.