First I am a chicken person first and formost. My experience with ducks is with a few on a farm pond years ago. I rescued this male pekin/mallard duck from someone who got four ducklings two years ago and had no business with poultry. This duck was the lone survivor. So, I took him in. He would not leave my hens alone so I adopted a female pekin from the Humane Society's farm animal shelter to keep him "company". The two are put away in the coop each night and then let out each morning and free roam the yard. I bring this up because I cannot put the duck in the coop until the chickens are on the roost and out of the ducks reach. They are hostages on the roost until I let the ducks out each morning. Here is another reason I am going to strangle him. He has started running the fence for the last two months or more trying to get at the hens and if they get too close he reaches through and grabs them and the only way they can get free is to shed some feathers. I also like to let my hens out into the yard an hour or so before dusk but in order to do this I have to catch the duck first and put him in a dog crate. He chases them relentlessly and then if he catches one he trys to mate with them and not very romantically either. I had no idea they would do this!!!!! (try to cross species) Also, why don't domestic ducks seem to go through a breeding cycle like wild ducks? or do wild ducks breed throughout the year? I didn't think they did because of migration patterns and male mallards lose their breeding plumage and the females only lay in the spring. Will he stop this come fall and winter?
Ducks can be NASTY! I have mine in with my hens and they have reached a detante, but just barely. Periodically the ducks still case the hens without any real interst in catching them. Still the chickens cannot come down off their roosts until the ducks have been let out of the coop int he morning. When the chcickens were smaller than the ducks the atacks were visous and I had to keep them strictly segragated when i wasn't around to referee. Now that the hens are full grown ad my rooster is huge the ducks have backed down to just being pains in the rear.
It sounds like the duck imprinted on chickens and thinks he is one. You may need to pen him out of sight of the hens with his duck girlfriend until he gets it. I have an imprinted khaki campbell drake who took months to realize that he should be doing to the ducks what he was attempting with my shoe. He is not trying to be obnoxious, he doesn't understand.
Yes sounds like this one has imprinted on chickens. Many domestics have a much higher breeding drive or something like a much longer breeding season than their wild counterparts. This is "good" for mass production(think a breeding farm or hatchery flock situation) but not so desirable in many pet situations. Drakes by nature are famous for having very high sex drives, rapes are extremely common in wild species, to the extent they actually have anatomical changes in both sexes to "deal" with this such as the ducks in some species having unusually complex reproductive structures that allow her some control over which sperm gets to fertilize her eggs(if she wants, she can reject the sperm from drakes who forced themselves on her and allow her "mate" to fertilize most of her eggs). Pekins are known to have a problem with taking this breeding urge to "extremes" even by duck standards(they have been known to kill ducks or chickens in their relentless attempts to mate). Again, this would be good by production standards, they could have one drake per 10 hens or whatever ratio works best for fertile eggs. Permanently separating the ducks from the chickens probably is best in this case for the chicken's sake as he is very likely not going to let up on it during most of the year, if at all- they were also bred to be productive for as long as possible. In fact some ducks are MORE productive than the average chicken.. Also watch to make sure he doesn't over breed the duck, if he does you may need to get more females.
It seems like you will likely need to build a seperate pen for the overzealous lover and his mate. Keep them seperate from the chickens, for the chickens sake. It may help to, as Terrie already suggested, get the drake another hen or two, to help with that sex drive of his. If you cannot build and seperate pen, you may want to place him in another home. Maybe a home geared more toward waterfowl, where the drake can have more duck hens and less chicken hens. Good for you from rescuing him from his situation. He sounds like an Easter duckling survivor. -Kim
Kim, He is a Easter duck survivor. I warned my friend about the draw backs but did she listen NO! I also told her if she did not provide the proper enclosure the racoon, opposum, fox, you name it would be after a duck dinner. Did she listen to that suggestion either NO! She bought a oversized dog house and made a pen out of chicken wire. The doghouse had no door and the pen was simply a chicken wire stretched between poles with no top or protection against digging in. She originally had four ducks and they all survived for approximately 6 months before the local predators found out about them. Whatever it was took one per night unitl Quakers was the only one left and that's when I got a call pleading with me to save him. I refused at first and she brought him into the garage each evening. She then called and wanted to know of a park she could turn him loose in. That's when I gave in. This is the second year of having him and I really enjoy having him and Mary Lou around the place. I only see them mate once in the morning and have never seen any other matings during the day. I don't want to re-home so i will figure something out. By the way how long does a female pekin lay. She has laid and egg each day since I have had her since early this March?
Quote:I got 2 Roeun Ducks left both male.. my 2 female got killed by a snapper and the other by a pred. Anyway, I bought some Cayuga ducks and they are almost 1/2 grown now. I herded them to the pond yesterday for their first big dip and the 2 Roeun wanted to attack them. Of course my cane hit the side of it's head ... .. And in my case if they keep it up when the Cayugas get bigger, those 2 male Roeun will be in my freezer. That will be my solution
I have a pair of pekin ducks who were in the coop before our chickens were old enough to go outside. They chased them around a bit at 1st but that was all. Now they seem to get a long pretty good. Our set up sounds about the same as yours with the roost above. When they all see me coming they are down in the bottom waiting pushing and shoving to get out of there.
Google "Roast Duck." Pick a recipe that sounds good and have Sunday dinner. That will stop him. Rufus