Is it mating season?!

[Lizmo1239]

Hi hi - curious, is November typically mating season for some of your ducks? I have a pekin drake and a female mallard, and the past week my drake has all of a sudden EXCESSIVELY been in the mood. Typically i'll go in the backyard every once in a while to see him trying to mate, but now i can't turn my back for two seconds. I'm confused, I thought I'd see an uptick in spring, not end of November when temps have started to drop in Portland, OR.

My poor girl duck's head feathers are all gone so I've started to separate them with chicken wire at night and luckily I have a nice little duck jail set up in my backyard in the grass using a metal puppy play pen, so they can both forage while being next to and seeing each other.

They both just turned 7 months old, so i'm wondering maybe if it's less about the season and more about their hormones reaching peak maturity. Sigh.

 

[ackie]

Do ducks have a season? Peafowl do but they dont lay year round. I assume anything that lays year round doesnt have a season.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

usually spring is mating season but depending on their age it may just be because of that

 

[Lizmo1239]

Great question - I have no idea! I'm a first time duck owner and really had no idea how big of a pain their mating habits would be. Good thing they're cute and funny

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Great question - I have no idea! I'm a first time duck owner and really had no idea how big of a pain their mating habits would be. Good thing they're cute and funny

i would recommend keeping just one of them and getting them a friend of the same gender (probably drakes since they have a much harder time finding homes)

then rehome the other one to a home with just that gender or a good ratio (unless you can keep boys and girls seperately)

a pekin drake will kill a mallard even if you have a bunch of hens

 

[HappyDuckie]

a pekin drake will kill a mallard even if you have a bunch of hens

That's not always the case. My pekin drake I had was the most docile, laid back duck I've ever owned. He never once mounted or even attempted to breed my female pekin. It depends on the ducks.

 

[Lizmo1239]

i would recommend keeping just one of them and getting them a friend of the same gender (probably drakes since they have a much harder time finding homes)

then rehome the other one to a home with just that gender or a good ratio (unless you can keep boys and girls seperately)

a pekin drake will kill a mallard even if you have a bunch of hens

I'm currently not looking to get rid of either of them - they seem to be doing great with the setup I have now, keeping them separated but still able to see each other and forage and letting them out together supervised. Curious, isn't having just two drakes without any hens typically frowned upon as well?

 

[HappyDuckie]

I'm currently not looking to get rid of either of them - they seem to be doing great with the setup I have now, keeping them separated but still able to see each other and forage and letting them out together supervised. Curious, isn't having just two drakes without any hens typically frowned upon as well?

Your setup sounds really good. You will probably end up having to separate full time in spring, during mating season. Having two (or multiple) drakes is sometimes called a bachelor flock. I have never seen it frowned upon. If there are no female ducks, then they won't be fighting each other. Sometimes they get into scuffles, but that's just the pecking order. Good luck.

 

[Jenwisp]

you could always get some more females. I'm not sure it would help though.. if your mallard is anything like ours. she wont let our pretty Cayuga mate with anyone else lol. she blocks him every time with head bobbing and calls. and the other girls ( Pekin, rouen, khaki) run away from our other male (khaki) .. they are all in love with the cayuga.

 

[Trisseh]

Individuals can differ even within the same breed. My appleyard drake didn’t become an actively horny turd until around this time last year. He went to a new home at that point because I didn’t have enough hens to keep him satisfied. Sometimes it’s hormones, and you can ride it out, and other times they’re just jerks and are better off in the stewpot or in a home where they’re part of a bachelor flock.

I have 2 runner drakes, one was already mating with hens by the time he was 11-12 weeks, and the other guy is 5 months and won’t even look at the ladies. I have 5 drakes, 1 mule drake, and 7 hens, so the ratio if they were kept together is no good. My drakes are living in a bachelor pad next door to the main duck pen, so everyone is still happy with no feather pulling or overmating.

You could try to add more hens and see if that spreads the love around a bit more, but a lot of times the drakes will have their favourites and cause problems still.

You’ve done what I would in the same situation with separating them so they can see each other but he can’t harass her.

what’s your long term plan? Are you getting more ladies in the spring, or were you hoping to just keep a pair? With a drake like my shy runner, you probably could, but with a fella that wants to mate constantly, it won’t work.

You have some options but it ultimately depends on what you want from the ducks.