How long do they live?

[cristy17]

I have a father-son duo of Magpie ducks. father is 3, son is 2. -- mom died last summer. due to winter, they are in with my chickens; they're terrorizing my hens. As soon as the snow melts, they're going to another pen permentantly.I'm wondering if I should get another female or two as company. but I don't want to invest in females if the boys will only be around for another year or so.

 

[cristy17]

Anybody?

 

[Born A Duck Lover]

I think it would be safe to go ahead and get another female or more. Ducks usually live for awhile; at least, I have an eight-year-old Buff Orpington and I know that many other people on this forum have older ducks.

 

[FenDruadin]

Ducks are pretty long-lived. If a predator doesn't get them, they are reported to easily live 8 or 9 years. I've heard of ducks living up to sixteen or eighteen years. I've only kept ducks for three years, so I can't attest to this personally, but they can still be laying regularly at 6. So I think you're good to go on getting more ducks. If you're in the Carolinas, I'll have magpie ducklings this spring, but they'll be unsexed. If you don't care about breed, you can probably find hens for sale on craigslist later in the spring. Or you can try adopting from a rescue organization--Carolina Waterfowl here in Charlotte usually has a lot of ducks available for adoption. Good luck! Your boys will thank you!

 

[HamandLily]

They can happily live on their own together, but if you do want to get them a female, then you are going to be looking at more than just one - the best male to female ratio for ducks is 1:3 because having just one female can cause big problems - she could be over-mated and raped.

Good luck!

 

[desertdarlene]

Some ducks can easily live 8 to 10 years for the smaller breeds and 15 years for muscovies. So, sure, go ahead and get some more ducks if you want. Either more males only or at least 6 females.

 

[Captain Carrot]

I can't keep more than one Muscovy drake at a time. They fight, quite vicious too. Muscovys have very sharp claws. You may want to keep this in mind if you get more females...there could be fighting.

I'd recommend picking the best drake, finding a home for the other and get more females.

I have one drake and a total of 6 females, my drake has no problems covering all of the females. I'd say at least 2-5 females. depends on how much room you have.

EDIT: at least 2-5 for one drake