Hi, We have 8 ducks and 5 drakes. I know that is too many drakes, and they are just starting to fight. I'm watching to see who is going to be the leader and who isn't. I'm wondering how many we should keep or how many we should get rid of? Thanks!
How many Drakes to How many Ducks?
- Thread starter LivinOnLove
- Start date
It's rec. 1 drake to 3-4 ducks, I have 11 ducks and 3 drakes that are sexually active and 1 drake that is going on 10yrs. But if you want to break it down even more, My dominant drake has 3 ducks of his own and mates with some of the other ducks[because he can] then my next in line has 2 and also mates with some of the others when the dominant drake isn't around., then my youngest who is 6 months and just beginning to notice the girls has 2 hatch mates that are his but I have a feeling he will be just as opportunist as the other 2. My old drake has the most at 5 but 2 of those also sneak around with next in line. So now are you thoroughly confused?
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #3
Thank you. I can think of two that should be easy to part with. They are the two less aggressive ones, and they keep getting pushed away by the other guys. Do you think 3 drakes is a good number?
If you have enough space for those 3 drakes to manage avoiding each other yes, there will be confrontations and unless things are getting out of hand let them work it out, they really have to get their pecking order worked out on their own. But rethink who you want to keep, do you want all aggressive drakes trying to live together? or maybe a few more passive ones that won't be trying to cause trouble all the time? of course all that can change once you rehome a couple, the dynamics of the flock will change when there are only 3 drakes and they will need again to work it out. please keep updating on how it's going. you may even want to consider a few more ducks in the spring when mating season gets going, but take it a day at a time there.
Ideally keep one lol.. you can do 2 but that'll depend loads on their personalities. Now me? wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy overdraked, so this is a definite do as i say not as i do lol
I have always kept a multi drake flock, 2 was the tops though that was beyond enough hassle, i separate at night and be on the lookout for fights getting to extreme. All that said, this year i was blessed again with more, i did sell A drake but have kept the rest, so far with some scuffles aside it works BUT and this is a big BUT these are young boys all related by at least the drake. As well, they seem to be taking on their own singular females?? i see this a lot in my flock.
For winter their good insulators too, but i may have to re-evaluate come spring, the ratio i have is not recommended and has to be closely monitored and is highly dependent on the drakes personalities and my set-up.
Current count 7 drakes, 12 ducks.
I have always kept a multi drake flock, 2 was the tops though that was beyond enough hassle, i separate at night and be on the lookout for fights getting to extreme. All that said, this year i was blessed again with more, i did sell A drake but have kept the rest, so far with some scuffles aside it works BUT and this is a big BUT these are young boys all related by at least the drake. As well, they seem to be taking on their own singular females?? i see this a lot in my flock.
For winter their good insulators too, but i may have to re-evaluate come spring, the ratio i have is not recommended and has to be closely monitored and is highly dependent on the drakes personalities and my set-up.
Current count 7 drakes, 12 ducks.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #6
When we got our first ten this summer, we didn't know what any of them were. We ended up with 5 of each. That was fine up until the last 6 weeks or so when the younger ones finished maturing. We did get three more ducks that were laying when we got them, hoping for eggs yet this year. Unfortunatly, they are mating, but I am not finding any eggs. So we have 8 mature females, 2 more aggresive drakes (cayugas about 7 months old), and the other 3 drakes are about 6 months old. The mallard looking one is somewhat assertive, but I've never seen him have any actual success. The other two are mixes of roan (sp?) and something else and they are attempting to advance on the girls, but they get pushed and fought off by the two cayugas and even some of the girls. So you think maybe we should only keep on aggressive male? I guess that makes sense.
- Mar 12, 2011
- 460
- 30
- 134
Got any pictures? I would keep the males that you have females of that way you could have purebred duckling and eggs to sell. You can often give away a drake to someone that needs one.
Why an aggressive drake?
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest threads
-
-
I have had chickens off and on for the past 50years. Right now I have 11 chickens of mixed breeds.
- Started by tomarizona
- Replies: 2
-
-
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
-
Question of the Day - Friday, February 13th, 2026- Started by casportpony
- Replies: 93
-
-
-
-
