It's beginning and way to early

[Miss Lydia]

The annoying part? that may not make any difference who "won" this time... as you know i have two drakes remaining and despite having both win on separate occasions it has not prevented the duke outs starting again...

I usually let things be as well, that said, i will step in whens things get to intense, the black drake(otherwise known as "BD" ) is totally submissive to myself, he thinks i am THE top drake so i can get him to cease, my other guy(older/bigger) is just not a fighter...

Funny, you mention the girls train wreak looking lol I find ours do that as well, mind you it's mainly the younger ones who of coarse have not seen this before...

We've shot down cold again but that warm spell sure through things into a tizzy, it better snow again THAT slowed the nonsense down!

Oh I know that GQ, we've been going through this many years now, right now it's clam and peaceful, we'll see how long that lasts. And to add insult to injury I am trying to keep my gander from mating with the ducks this year,

I had to remove all the ones he likes and put them in the front with my older ones, I got him a goose friend but he really likes them ducks. This should be an interesting year.

 

[Going Quackers]

My dogs act confused by the drake fights too. I must say that Jdywntr, I agree with you about camp. Too many drakes-- Too much fighting in the flock-- not a good thing.

I see ML confirmed what i thought she has the same set-up as I do... 2 drakes, 8 ducks(since her extra drake is retired) that is not to many NOW when i had all my boys from last years hatch that was too many... i hatched out 11 birds , 10 were drakes... 1 was a duck.

Two drakes is usually ok as long as there is plenty of space and girls... drakes are cocky for the most part some tussles i think are normal besides i have had ducks get into now & again, who knows why, somebody ticked someone off.. no way is it always peaceful when you get into bigger flocks(i'm not even sure it would be the case in small ones, my hens have their moments and there are only 4 lol)

 

[Iain Utah]

10 drakes out of 11 hatchlings? That stinks. . We kept our extra trio of drakes that i hatched last year in a bachelor pen. I thought it looked like a prison show gone bad but hubby called them the three stooges and found it rather funny. Luckily, a neighbor wanted them for her pond, so I was able to rehome them. Hubby was sad to see them go.

 

[Going Quackers]

Oh I know that GQ, we've been going through this many years now, right now it's clam and peaceful, we'll see how long that lasts. And to add insult to injury I am trying to keep my gander from mating with the ducks this year,

I had to remove all the ones he likes and put them in the front with my older ones, I got him a goose friend but he really likes them ducks. This should be an interesting year.

Best made plans, eh?

What ticks me off is BD is mainly with one duck, he even houses with her at night..(since i separate the drakes nightly) but nooooo he still has to fight with spot, it's like knock it off you dummy! I'd get rid but he is the breeder, spot being hatchery is not of the quality too so i plod on.

It settled down though because both drakes and some of the ducks went off together(there out foraging today) so i guess for now it's peaceful.

 

[Going Quackers]

10 drakes out of 11 hatchlings? That stinks.

. We kept our extra trio of drakes that i hatched last year in a bachelor pen. I thought it looked like a prison show gone bad but hubby called them the three stooges and found it rather funny. Luckily, a neighbor wanted them for her pond, so I was able to rehome them. Hubby was sad to see them go.

Two separate hatches, one resulted in only one surviving turned out to be a drake) then the next clutch produced almost all drakes, just one duck. I too was going to attempt the "drake only" flock but ended up trading one drakelet for 3 ducklets and then selling the rest to a guy for use as pest control on his sheep farm. *I* was kinda sad to see them go, really nice colours but it was wrong for the flock and i truly needed to downsize, it was costly feeding so many birds.

Here for kicks i'll show two them lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

Two separate hatches, one resulted in only one surviving turned out to be a drake) then the next clutch produced almost all drakes, just one duck. I too was going to attempt the "drake only" flock but ended up trading one drakelet for 3 ducklets and then selling the rest to a guy for use as pest control on his sheep farm. *I* was kinda sad to see them go, really nice colours but it was wrong for the flock and i truly needed to downsize, it was costly feeding so many birds.

Here for kicks i'll show two them lol

Gorgeous Boys

 

[Going Quackers]

Gorgeous Boys

aw, thanks.. i do sorta miss them...

mind you if their father has his way they'll be more but i am refusing to set this year, think there be any change i'd get almost all girls?

 

[Miss Lydia]

aw, thanks.. i do sorta miss them...

mind you if their father has his way they'll be more but i am refusing to set this year, think there be any change i'd get almost all girls?

you never know. I am going to try my best to not let any sit, I always feel sorry for the girls it's just such a normal part of their makeup. But unless dh builds me a barn I am out of room for bedtime. I need more space.

 

[Going Quackers]

you never know. I am going to try my best to not let any sit, I always feel sorry for the girls it's just such a normal part of their makeup. But unless dh builds me a barn I am out of room for bedtime. I need more space.

Yes, i know this will likely make me on some of their not so loved lists but i cannot handle more drakes, i can add a couple girls that there is space for, but i waffle... and obviously cannot roll the dice on trying our own clutch, let's face it i'd probably get 20 ducklings, 19 being drakelets

 

[jdywntr]

Yes, i know this will likely make me on some of their not so loved lists but i cannot handle more drakes, i can add a couple girls that there is space for, but i waffle... and obviously cannot roll the dice on trying our own clutch, let's face it i'd probably get 20 ducklings, 19 being drakelets

I've been looking at the size of my 6 week olds. Of the 13 only 3 are obviously smaller.

But that works for my needs. I'm actually hoping that some of the ducklings will end up taking to my black/white female. The chocolate females seem to exclude her and she is often by herself. If they do, I could at least end up with unrelated ducklings.

On a side note, I checked out the nest that the other girls made. There were 16 eggs in there.

I removed 6 of the smaller/dirty looking ones. Its going to get back down to freezing in a few days so I don't know if I'll leave them or not. Ugh, decisions.