Introducing young females to adult males?

[SeaSea47]

I'm sure this has been discussed, but I can't find a good answer. At what age should I introduce young females to adult males?

I currently have three one-year-old drakes - the least dominant one lives in a pen with three one-year-old females and the other two live in a pen together next to the foursome. The boys aren't really aggressive, but I did have a bit of bullying and over-mating going, so the two more dominant males are separated until after mating season. I have 8 more girls coming soon, and I'll eventually add them to the foursome, but I'm wondering when is the best time to do so. I've heard everything from five weeks to five months!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Since egg laying begins at 4-5 months they are clearly sexually mature at that point. I would try to wait until as close to that as possible.

 

[CoriM]

I have read 5 months.

 

[MangoDuck]

I think four months is probably okay, but maybe four and a half or five just to be safe. I think it really depends how quickly they mature. Our male and female just started mating at around three and a half months, but I’ve heard that that’s a bit early for most ducks.
You could possibly introduce them to your least dominant male first? Only to see when they’re sexually mature, and to make sure they don’t get over mated in their first mating season.
Just a few ideas, but I’m not an expert on duck mating yet or anything. Just going off of what I’ve heard! Good luck.