How to intergrade young drake with year-old jumbo pekin

[Crazy Birds]

I recently picked up a runner duck pair from TSC. One is a drake and the other is a hen. I already have a drake and having another doesn't bother me. The only thing that I see myself having an issue with is the fact that I keep my drake away from the hens. I do this for multiple reasons, the first being that he is a very large jumbo pekin. My flock is kind of odd, with mostly smaller-built ducks or crippled ones. He is also very aggressive when he mates and tends to stick to only one hen and chases all the other hens away. I also let my ducklings (once they are almost or fully feathered) run around in the garden which is probably .5 acres with my older hens and don't want him accidentally killing one of the ducklings while trying to mate with them.

I have no idea how to introduce them. They see each other through a chicken wire fence every day. I've had my new drake for 10 weeks almost exactly, so I do have time to make them friends. They won't be bunk mates for a bit - there was a complication with my duck house. Living in the hayfields, the wind here is no joke. My duck house was literally torn apart. This also happened with my friend's duck house which was quite a bit more solid than mine. I realize I have quite a bit of time before Animal (the young drake) starts mating, but I would like them to be friends before that. And of course, I don't have to put Animal in with the older drake, but there may be plans for them to be moving out of the garden into a much grassier area closer to the pond and I wouldn't want my older drake to sleep alone in a different duck house.

I could try letting my other drake back out, but I only have four hens and two drakes. Plus, the other runner duck hen I got with Animal had a ton of issues when I got her and is tiny! I'm looking to get more ducklings but only sexed ones from now on until I figure out what to do with my drakes I love all of my ducks and will not look into getting rid of either one of my drakes unless absolutely necessary. They are both very sweet boys and I would be heartbroken if something happened to either of them.

Any suggestions?

 

[ruthhope]

Hi @Crazy Birds
Do I understand you had 1 drake, a jumbo pekin, that was already housed separately from the females and now you have a second drake?

If that is the case, you can either introduce the second drake to the original and keep them fully separate from the females, including the new female, or: you can integrate the new pair with the females and continue to keep the jumbo Pekin seperately.

Introducing the new drake to the jumbo pekin is straightforward but I cannot be certain in a prediction how long it will take. Initially maintain them touch free but in sight of each other. I put feeding bowls next to each other one on each side of the barrier and similarly water tubs, so that the boys get used to coming close when eating and drinking. After they have had about 2 weeks of this, you might try the two with supervised open acess during the day, but keep them separate at night for maybe a further 2 weeks. I introduced a new drake to my three drakes from December 2022 with a 2 week period of no touch. After that, the new boy got on ok with two of my drakes-- they basically ignored him -- but he had some scuffles with my third drake, who was in a big molt at the time and under the weather. I found that by giving the moulting drake a separate compartment at night, all the drakes are able to coexist -- but they have a large garden to steer clear of each other during the day!

Actually, the new boy hangs around with my other drakes in the garden -- he's not up close and friendly but they all will drink together from the kiddie pool and sleep together in the sun or under a tree.
Your new drake should be integratable with the pekin after 2 weeks of supervised daytime contact. It may take a little longer than 2 weeks, or it maye be ok after only 1 week supervised contact

 

[Crazy Birds]

Thank you for that @ruthhope
Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread, I've been super busy. You understood correctly! At the time of my original post, they had been eating and drinking by each other for 3 or so weeks but had not yet made contact with each other. The other week, I let my pekin drake out and then after an hour of them running around together, I put them both back into the drake pen. When there were no issues, I slowly started putting the younger drake into the pen for longer periods each time (with supervision of course!) and now he goes into the pen in the morning and stays until evening without any problems

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you for that @ruthhope
Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread, I've been super busy. You understood correctly! At the time of my original post, they had been eating and drinking by each other for 3 or so weeks but had not yet made contact with each other. The other week, I let my pekin drake out and then after an hour of them running around together, I put them both back into the drake pen. When there were no issues, I slowly started putting the younger drake into the pen for longer periods each time (with supervision of course!) and now he goes into the pen in the morning and stays until evening without any problems

Good news! It should be relatively plane sailing now.

My new drake has also fully integrated with my three original drakes. WHen it was cold, he woudl sleep on a roost next to one muscovy. He isn;t all pally with my original muscovy -- but they might chse each other round the back garden for 5 minutes and the next minute be sleeping side by side under a bush. I still have my original muscovy sleeping in a separate compartment at night. But day time, all 4 boys are out in the garden together.

 

[Crazy Birds]

Yes, he is not sleeping with the drake yet, but I've run out of kennels so he's still sleeping inside
If anyone has any ideas about ducks losing their quack please check this thread out, one of my hens is now having issues
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/runner-duck-losing-her-voice-and-kind-of-coughing.1581738/