How to convince parents...

[Miss Lydia]

question, are drakes aggresive to other animals during mating season? Like for example, geese

My Muscovy drake hated my Embden gander and vice versa, Soon as the breeding season started for my geese I'd have to separate because my gander would be aggressive then when Muscovy breeding season started up if they could get to each other fighting would start so from Feb until June my geese and Muscovy would be separated. Once hormones were down in the gander I could let them be together because my gander would stay clear of my Muscovy drake. It's a 3 ring circus around here. Good thing I love them all. lol

 

[cassandrapettersson]

Like the others have said probably in male female pens. I'm assuming you aren't looking for fertilized eggs or to hatch new chicks based of the "no new ducks"?

Mostly just buying new ducks, we've spent alot of money on that... The cayugas themselves costed a small fortune but if we set up breeding pens then we'd know who the father is, and if we get female ducklings they could go with the other drakes when adults?

 

[cassandrapettersson]

My Muscovy drake hated my Embden gander and vice versa, Soon as the breeding season started for my geese I'd have to separate because my gander would be aggressive then when Muscovy breeding season started up if they could get to each other fighting would start so from Feb until June my geese and Muscovy would be separated. Once hormones were down in the gander I could let them be together because my gander would stay clear of my Muscovy drake. It's a 3 ring circus around here. Good thing i love them all. lol

We got alot to do then on our farm!

 

[Missyschix13]

Mostly just buying new ducks, we've spent alot of money on that... The cayugas themselves costed a small fortune but if we set up breeding pens then we'd know who the father is, and if we get female ducklings they could go with the other drakes when adults?

I'm going to defer to @Miss Lydia and @Canadian Wind here.

 

[cassandrapettersson]

I have Muscovy and can honestly say your drakes are going to fight when hormones hit. Most drakes will fight but Muscovy are fierce fighters. If one doesn't have a way to stay away from another there could even be death. Or the one being singled out will fly away.
Your Indian Runners will probably be in trouble too if any of the larger drakes go after them. My Muscovy drake pays no mind to my Runner drake of his females but he has his own females so he's a happy boy but I could never have another Muscovy drake [I've had as many as 4 and to keep the peace each drake had to have his own space with his own girls] Others may have a different situation but this is how it's been here.
@Canadian Wind has multiple Muscovy drakes maybe he can weigh in. Not sure if any of his are of breeding age.
I haven't ever had Cayuga so can't say much about them but from being on here for many years I can say most drakes once hormones kick in are going to fight just some more than others. Plus unless the females are separated they are going to be abused and injured. Drownings in pools is one way and that has happened just recently with one member. Drakes will gang up on females in water.
If your parents don't want to part with any of these drakes then there needs to be a plan to keep the females safe and the drakes safe from each other too.

Do the hormones still happen when there's only drakes?
+ We'll be setting up breeding pens, but some drakes would be singled out, would they be okay together or would they fight?

 

[Canadian Wind]

Oh dear, it's come to this. I'm getting mentioned in posts now.

Okay, well I concur about separating the drakes. My plan for the Spring is to have separate runs for the drakes with the females I chose to have mated, since I'm concentrating on specific colours for my Muscovy. I'll be doing the same for the mallard-derived breeds to some extent (I want pure Welshies, for example).

I haven't had to deal with hormone-crazed Muscovy, so if @Miss Lydia says they are terrible, I will take her word for it. One more reason for me to get the breeding pens started. She is correct in saying mine are all juveniles. I only had the one male this past Spring, so things were fine.

My Muscovy drake did not bother with the Cayuga or Magpie hens in the least. He had his three girls and was satisfied with that. And even though the ratio was off, I let the Magpie and Cayuga drakes loose with the four hens and it was fine.

Over the summer, as I adopted several drakes (a lot of which got rehomes) I did have some aggression issues and several spent time in drake jail. Right now, everyone is getting along fine though.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@thumper650 can help with setting up for multiple drakes too. Drakes can and will single out another drake from breeding if there aren't females. @Luv Ducks just had this happen.
That's why I mentioned your Runners getting molested by your Muscovy and your Cayuga since they are going to be the smallest of your drakes. It's really hard to tell how this will play out but it's going to be rough going with that many drakes.

 

[NatJ]

if we set up breeding pens then we'd know who the father is,

Yes, you could do that.

and if we get female ducklings they could go with the other drakes when adults?

But half of the ducklings will be male. So overall, hatching more ducklings will make things worse instead of better, unless you are willing to butcher or rehome some of the males.

Personally, I would recommend that your family get used to the idea of eating duck. That way you would always have a solution to the problem of too many drakes: keep the right number for breeding, and butcher the rest.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Personally, I would recommend that your family get used to the idea of eating duck. That way you would always have a solution to the problem of too many drakes: keep the right number for breeding, and butcher the rest.

That was my original plan with my Muscovy. And then I got colours. Pretty Pretty colours. And learned their genetics. So now, I'll have my colour stock for selling and breeding projects, and my meat stock to fill the freezer.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Okay so, I'm a teenager, ofcourse i can't buy ducks myself or anything like that.
We currently have 12 ducks,
3 muscovy females,
3 muscovy drakes,
2 drake indian runners
2 drake cayugas
2 female cayugas
So 5 girls and 6 drakes... My parents insist on no more ducks, but I'm worried for them, breeding season is spring-summer... so there's still time till the guys are basically killing the girls and eachother.
Any ideas on how to convince themmm?? We won't be rehoming any of them

all you need to do is get another pen, or a mesh fencing to keep them separate. As long as your parents are good with it, they can simply be separated, girls from boys.
Otherwise most the boys, or all the girls, need rehoming