How to introduce new hens to your flock?

[anonymous99]

I have 9 pekin ducks. Unfortunately, I only ended up with 2 hens and 7 drakes. They’re 18 weeks old now. I was thinking about getting some more hens, maybe some khaki campbells or a mix of different breeds. I know most people would say “just get some more ducklings” or “rehome the drakes or the hens”. I can’t really afford to get any ducklings. I can’t afford to buy 3 different bags of feed for my pekin ducks and some ducklings. How can I go about quarantining new ducks before introducing them to the flock? And where can I get some new ducks (don’t trust craigslist)? I don’t have a coop that i can quarantine new ducks in. Any advice would help. Also, how many more hens would be enough for the drakes?

 

[All4Eggz]

@aart

 

[littlechickenmama17]

It's usually 6 girl ducks to 1 drake, and I would recommend putting the new ducks in a place that the current ducks can see them, but can't touch or hurt them. After they seem fine, put them together for supervised playtime. If no hurt has been done to anyone, put them together. If you see them peck once or twice or but chests, that's the pecking order being established, NOT hurtful behavior.
You can set the new ducks in a place away from the others. Don't put them in a pen that the current ducks play in or sleep in. That is what I do to quarantine my ducks. Leave them like this for 1-2 weeks.
If you have facebook marketplace, that is my go-to sell place to sell my animals. You have a good chance that you will sell or find animals.

 

[Yardmom]

You might be able to have less than 6 hens per drake if they are not confined to a small space. I have even had 1:1 with complete free range. I would caution you about getting smaller hens with Pekins drakes. Large drakes can hurt smaller hens when mating.

 

[Yardmom]

Just wanted to mention that 2 pens might be cheaper than getting more ducks. Also FB marketplace is not for selling live animals (I'm sure it still happens, and there are ways to use it to get the word out) Any animal auctions near you? Around here small animals are sold before larger livestock.