How do I choose which drake to keep as a breeder??

[Equi_Liz]

I bought 9 ducklings a while back, hoping for mostly females but as they are now fully grown and molted into their adult feathers I found out that I have 4 females and 5 males. How do you choose which drake to keep to breed? I am planning on selling both eggs and ducks in the future.
I have one big lazy guy, he injured his leg and doesn't seem as energetic as everyone else in the flock. The rest are all very energetic and mounting my females too often, they are all bigger than the females but still smaller than the big guy with the bad leg. My partner wants to keep the big duck because he likes his demeanor, very calm and laid back but I am worried he won't breed well due to his leg and he doesn't socialize much with the rest of the flock. They are all Pekin ducks and I am bringing the extra males over to the market this weekend.

 

[sourland]

The lame drake will probably have more problems as he ages so for me he would have to go. Of the other 4, I would try to pick a nice sized less aggressive bird. Good that you are getting rid of 4 before your hens are injured.

 

[Equi_Liz]

The lame drake will probably have more problems as he ages so for me he would have to go. Of the other 4, I would try to pick a nice sized less aggressive bird. Good that you are getting rid of 4 before your hens are injured.

Thank you! I think I picked the best drake possible, he isn’t giant, but still bigger than the females and they seem to want to be around him more but boy did he scratch my arms up trying to run away though. My hands are too small to hold the whole duck effectively haha, being small is rather inconvenient sometimes. I should have waited and bought the buff ducklings instead of the pekin, they are huge! I made a separate area for the males to live, none sold over the weekend so I will try again in a couple of weeks. My fiancé wants to keep the injured duck as a pet so I’m going to watch how he does with the male and other females. I have never seen him attempt to mount or breed anyone, so if he doesn’t cause problems I’ll just let him mosey around the property and be a duck.

 

[Floof]

Since pekins get so big, I would pick the drake with the thickest legs and best demeanor. You don't want to pick one that breeds aggressively, he just needs to get the job done, not pull all her feathers out ya know?

 

[Equi_Liz]

Since pekins get so big, I would pick the drake with the thickest legs and best demeanor. You don't want to pick one that breeds aggressively, he just needs to get the job done, not pull all her feathers out ya know?

Thank you! I hope I picked a good one, my females seem much more relaxed since I separated them from the males! I don't hear a lot of loud quacking and flapping around anymore, rather they just quietly swim around and scavenge the yard for bugs.