Introducing new ducks to a pair of Pekins.

[EnglishDuckster]

I am in the process of introducing a couple of ducks to a pair (Drake and Duck) that I have had for about a year who have been happy on my pond. We successfully hatched some eggs the duck had laid. We decided to keep a couple of ducks from the brood to give our duck some relief from the Drake. Although they seem very happy she had been looking exhausted and a bit run down and I had read that a Drake really needs a number of ducks to keep things 'healthy'.

We kept the new ducks in a pen in the duck pond area and the existing pair communicated and sat with the new ducks next to the pen for a couple of days. Then I let the new ducks out of the pen to explore the pond area. The Drake seems more interested in one of the ducks he runs after her and tries to mate with. She is not happy and runs away and tries to come back up to the house. She is not injured although she did get a cut on her beak. The other new duck seems to be able to fend him off a bit easier and has integrated quite well. I am concerned the second new duck is going to be excluded from the group as when she tries to join in the drake runs after her and tries to mate with her. She runs back into her pen and hides in the duck house when she is not jumping over the fence. Any suggestions/advice? Has anyone else experienced this before?

 

[Miss Lydia]

How old are these 2 new ducks? A drake mating with a female below the age of 4 months can cause serious injury.

 

[EnglishDuckster]

Thank you. Problem solved. I will need to keep them apart for a bit longer then. The new sucks are 12 weeks old. They are a similar size to the existing ducks (I think fully grown) but not yet 4 months.