interbreeding?

[ARose4Heaven]

Can Pekins and Rouens breed each other?

I have 5 ducks, all the same age. 3 Pekins...2 of which I think are female, based on no curly feather. One of each gender Rouen.

The Pekiin drake is obviously the alpha male and has started mounting my Rouen female, but not the Pekins. None have ever laid eggs.

Am I gonna get mixed breed babies? Is this a bad time of year for ducklings? If I do get eggs, what size and color will they be? I have leghorns in the same pen, that I thought were all roosters, but have suddenly started finding white eggs. They are regular chicken size eggs. Do I need to provide nesting material for the ducks?

 

[desertdarlene]

I know I can answer your first question: Can Pekins and Rouens interbreed? The answer is: yes, both are mallard derived and can breed. The ducklings seem to go strong on the rouen coloring, I've noticed, though.

I don't really know what to say about eggs and nesting this time of year. I do know that not all matings result in eggs or fertile eggs, but if there are eggs, I can't help you much there. They should be large and thicker shelled than chicken eggs.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

I am so used to chickens, I feel a little out of my element on these ducks. Forgive me if my questions seem obvious. Do ducks lay eggs without a drake the way chickens do without a rooster?

 

[KansasKid]

The hens will lay with or without the drake. The question is, do you want to raise more ducklings? If so you will need to provide a nesting box with material (old dog house and some hay will work) If not they will lay anywhere they feel like. If you are just going to collect the eggs you don't necessarily need a nest box. i just let mine lay them anywhere and when i get to the house, i just rinse off the dirt/etc. off. But if you want nice "clean" eggs then i would go ahead and provide a nest box. And if you don't want to raise ducklings and save a little money they all will share and lay in one or two nest boxes.