If rehoming drakes does not happen

[ShelbyCiave]

Hello all!
So, some of you may have seen I am at a 6-4 male to female ratio of ducks. I am trying to put up my 4 new baby drakes up for rehoming. However, if I have no luck with this and I were to keep all 10, I would obviously figure out a way to separate the females from the males. My question is, even if I separate them and let the males and females take turns free ranging would I have to separate my existing males from new males? Also, if all 6 males know there are females around, but are still separated from the females, should I worry about the drakes getting aggressive with each other? Sorry for excessive questions. Y’all have been a great help thus far and very supportive! I really appreciate it!

 

[ruthhope]

Hello all!
So, some of you may have seen I am at a 6-4 male to female ratio of ducks. I am trying to put up my 4 new baby drakes up for rehoming. However, if I have no luck with this and I were to keep all 10, I would obviously figure out a way to separate the females from the males. My question is, even if I separate them and let the males and females take turns free ranging would I have to separate my existing males from new males? Also, if all 6 males know there are females around, but are still separated from the females, should I worry about the drakes getting aggressive with each other? Sorry for excessive questions. Y’all have been a great help thus far and very supportive! I really appreciate it!

Until you find a new home for your drakes, you can indeed separate your flock into males and females. Depending on the sze and situation of your yard, they might take turns being out free ranging or you could put in a dividing barrier and they could share the yard side by side.

I find it difficult to rehome drakes: mine are all rescues. I took in 2 juvenile pekin drakes that were dumped on the side of the road at the begining of May and have been looking for homes for them since. I know of folks who will take in females but do not want another drake. I had the new ducks in a temporary pen in my back yard, sleeping in the coop in separate dogcrates at night, for 4 weeks. So far, I have managed to rehome one of the new boys -- with my son's flock of females. He is too young to know how to mate even though one of the girls is trying to teach him!!! The other -- they were tightly bonded but neck wrestling and one was pulling out feathers from the other -- has now integrated with my ducks at the bottom of the pecking order.
So in answer to your question, yes you can introduce your existing drakes and make a drake flock separate from the girls. Its easier from August onwards as the drake hormone levels start to wane. But I got mine integrated in June and with patience you can do it in July. Or you can leave your exisitng drakes with the girls. WHich ever works best for you

 

[DuckyDonna]

It is hard to picture what you've got going on in your run/pen. Can you not make another area in the barn. It doesn't take much to divide areas to keep them apart. Can you send pictures?

My boys and girls are separated with a welded wire fence between the 2 groups in their outdoor run. There are food buckets and water for each group. At night I put the girls in one pen and the boys in the other.

I've got 12 girls and 4 boys and the boys just don't know how to act which is why they are apart. I had a couple of girls snatched almost bald-headed and I knew I had to separate. Hopefully in the fall once the mating season is over they can all be together which is a lot less work. I guess I'm just used to it. Last year was worse. I had 4 sick girls, then the boys and the rest of the girls all in separate runs and pens.

 

[duckncover]

If this was my situation (It might be! Still waiting for my babies to voice sex!) I would have a bachelors pad with 5 of the extra drakes in it and then one of drakes of my choosing that would live with the ducks. I also would put a barrier up (literally anything from a bush to a piece of plywood) so the bachelors don't have to share the fence with the ladies are their drake. It may not be the case but I feel like that would drive them nuts lol. Let them out into the pen separately and there shouldn't be too many problems.

 

[ShelbyCiave]

It is hard to picture what you've got going on in your run/pen. Can you not make another area in the barn. It doesn't take much to divide areas to keep them apart. Can you send pictures?

My boys and girls are separated with a welded wire fence between the 2 groups in their outdoor run. There are food buckets and water for each group. At night I put the girls in one pen and the boys in the other.

I've got 12 girls and 4 boys and the boys just don't know how to act which is why they are apart. I had a couple of girls snatched almost bald-headed and I knew I had to separate. Hopefully in the fall once the mating season is over they can all be together which is a lot less work. I guess I'm just used to it. Last year was worse. I had 4 sick girls, then the boys and the rest of the girls all in separate runs and pens.

My barn is small and was already separated to keep the drakes from attacking my pig and hens all night. So now, I rotated the delisting drakes into the smaller house away from the barn and the 8 new ducklings into the other half of the barn because they needed more space and i didn’t anticipate taking on the extra 4. I’ll take pics and post them.

 

[ShelbyCiave]

The tiny house is 4’x6’. The side with the covered run is for the chickens and pig. The side with the collapsible fence is for the babies. The collapsible fence is temporary and they all currently free range all day, except for the babies, I work super early so I am home by 10am to keep watch for hawks and my dogs protect everyone. Here are some pictures for reference.

Ok one side of the barn is the fence bordering my yard from the neighbors, on the other side I have a few in ground garden beds. I want to keep all the barn animals close to one another but I’m strapped on options for that. Thank you all again for the support. I used to just read through google different issues, but I’m so happy I made an account and can be more interactive.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

We have a male-female ratio of 3 to 4 and have to keep them separated a lot of the time. The complicating factor for us is that the two oldest drakes don't like the younger drake and so they'll team up and beat him up, but they get along fantastically with each other (they're best pals).

Our oldest girl gets along swimmingly with the 2 oldest boys, and they don't really over mate her, so she can hang out with her boyfriends on some days and we let the young drake hang out with his 3 ladies on those days.

The youngest drake has a #1 girlfriend, so if we need to separate him, the little couple can usually go together. He doesn't beat her up very much either, similar to how the older drakes respect the older female.

For your case it might be possible to find similar arrangements, but the drakes can definitely be kept separately. I would just keep an eye on them in case some of the boys start getting bullied--drakes can be brutal to each other even if they're normally sweet birds.

They'll definitely pace and wear down any grass if they can see or hear the girls.

We had more drakes and had a pretty hard time rehoming them. The final one went after having him for almost a year, and even though I knew he was going away eventually, I did get attached to him and it was hard to see him go.

You can probably let them mix together until they're about 4-6 months old and the hormones start kicking in, but after that you'll definitely need to see how things develop.

It's 100% doable, it's just a lot of work (especially if someone needs to get separated out for medical treatment). Just set up separate areas ahead of time while they're not fighting and you should have a lot more options available for how you want to divide them. They also don't have to be strictly separate all the time, they can do some supervised social time depending on how aggressive the boys are.

Sorry for the ramble! I love all my ducks but I'm definitely going to make sure to keep my flock at 1 boy from now on -- 2 at the max if they get along.

edit: also your ducks are super cute!!

 

[DuckyDonna]

If this was my situation (It might be! Still waiting for my babies to voice sex!) I would have a bachelors pad with 5 of the extra drakes in it and then one of drakes of my choosing that would live with the ducks. I also would put a barrier up (literally anything from a bush to a piece of plywood) so the bachelors don't have to share the fence with the ladies are their drake. It may not be the case but I feel like that would drive them nuts lol. Let them out into the pen separately and there shouldn't be too many problems.

I had to make a double fence between the boys and girls with about a foot in between. They can still reach through and be close but can't mount and mate. Those boys have worn themselves out marching up and down that fence line all day. The girls couldn't care less!
That is a good idea leaving one drake with the girls. I have done alternating days with drakes in the past just because those boys act like they are going to end up in the nervous hospital the way they pace up and down all day. Gotta feel bad for them but if they acted right to begin with they wouldn't be in this situation! My girl's necks are healing so I may try that in the next few weeks.

 

[ShelbyCiave]

I agree with @ruthhope drakes can live side by side with a female flock even rotate each drake with the females maybe on a weekly basis might work might not each drake is different. But I do know some members who have to separate their drakes from their females @DuckyDonna is one. Lets see if she can advise. It's extremely hard to rehome drakes main reason I am not hatching.

I was hoping for girls a year ago… obviously that didn’t happen but I got the girls for my boys and ended up with the girls and even MORE boys! I was planning on immediately collecting eggs and not hatching. Drakes are just so crazy! My pekin is not that bad, but my Rouen cross is the issue. So sweet, but a major instigator! He gets the pekin wound up for sure! But those boys are inseparable.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yep they will def. wear down the grass along the fence line pacing.