How long do do you keep your drakes separate from your ladies?

[gracemortizzle]

Long time lurker, first post- forgive me if I’m not doing this right please!
I have 2 boys & 4 girl ducks that are all about 1.5 years old. They all used to live together in their enclosure. This spring, we had to start keeping the boys separate because they were over mating the girls, so we setup this impromptu middle section between the chicken & duck runs for the boys to live. One of the boys has escaped a few times & goes crazy for the girls. I’m wondering if they will need to be kept separate forever (or until I get more girls, which is not an option right now) or if they can be put back together after mating season?
Also, the boys don’t sleep in their middle section. During the day, the boys free range and when I get home from work & let the girls out of the run, the boys get jailed in their middle section. At night, the girls sleep in their coop & the boys get locked in the run. If the boys need to be separated forever, I’d like to build them a more secure coop to sleep in, instead of them sleeping in the run. Those of you that separate your boys, please let me know when you put them back together again, if ever… thanks so much!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Drakes can be very persistent, yes! You're ratio is definitely too low, but since you can't change that right now, it's best to keep them separate. I actually have two Muscovy drakes that I've kept away from the girls all summer. They'll be reintroduced later this Fall.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Long time lurker, first post- forgive me if I’m not doing this right please!
I have 2 boys & 4 girl ducks that are all about 1.5 years old. They all used to live together in their enclosure. This spring, we had to start keeping the boys separate because they were over mating the girls, so we setup this impromptu middle section between the chicken & duck runs for the boys to live. One of the boys has escaped a few times & goes crazy for the girls. I’m wondering if they will need to be kept separate forever (or until I get more girls, which is not an option right now) or if they can be put back together after mating season?
Also, the boys don’t sleep in their middle section. During the day, the boys free range and when I get home from work & let the girls out of the run, the boys get jailed in their middle section. At night, the girls sleep in their coop & the boys get locked in the run. If the boys need to be separated forever, I’d like to build them a more secure coop to sleep in, instead of them sleeping in the run. Those of you that separate your boys, please let me know when you put them back together again, if ever… thanks so much!View attachment 3930038

My goodness! My ladies would have that green foliage disappeared in a couple of days.Those new pens always look so pretty.
When we did ducks, we had to pick a Drake to mingle with the ladies because multi drakes will bare back a non aggressive female quick. They always went after my kindest ladies and the quick savoy ones never hardly got mated, because they males go after ones who don't escape.
Our yard could never heal and repair it's self while we had ducks. In the rain they would spoon up everything looking for a snack. We did 2 years on living in a swamp until we re homed our mud ducks. They were fun til the fun was few and far. If we had a pond or small lake, we would do ducks again. Not until then.
Speaking with my personal experience.

 

[gracemortizzle]

Drakes can be very persistent, yes! You're ratio is definitely too low, but since you can't change that right now, it's best to keep them separate. I actually have two Muscovy drakes that I've kept away from the girls all summer. They'll be reintroduced later this Fall.

Thanks so much for the reply! Glad to hear they probably won’t have to be separate forever. I’m just unsure when to put them back together again.. I don’t want to do it too soon & have the situation turn to chaos.. end up having to chase the boys while they chase the girls trying to get them separate again, LOL

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have one drake with 4 of his females separated from the rest of the flock because this drake is way to rough on my older females. I am hoping for mid-Sept.

 

[telandra2]

My boys tend to have a wife and 2 or 3 other girls in his harem he courts treats well. But as soon as the other drake's back is turned he is sprinting over to force breed those girls. I had one drake abandon his harem in the back yard to charge all the way around the house to force mate the girls in the front.

Right now they are charging over to dominate the maturing drakelets. Jerks.

 

[gracemortizzle]

I have one drake with 4 of his females separated from the rest of the flock because this drake is way to rough on my older females. I am hoping for mid-Sept.

I will hope for mid September along with you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I will hope for mid September along with you!

Thank you.