Just ordered 6 ducks...Half male half female...is that a mistake?

[reikichan2002]

Hi All!
I am new here. I have chickens and pot belly pigs and have now just ordered 6 ducks to delivered next week. I am so excited! 2 Pekin, 2 Blue Swedish and 2 Khaki Campbells...I ordered one male and one female of each. Was it a mistake to order that many males? I definitely want eggs and possibly ducklings later on.

BTW...we have and awesome barn and large fenced in area with electric fencing to keep the critters out.

Thanks for any advice you can provide me as a newbie!
Dot

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

too many boys the girls will be over bred and could be injured because of the drakes. Plus you "could" have drake fights. Each drake should have 4-7 ducks of his own depending on breed. The resulting ducklings will also be mixed unless you keep each pair penned sepperately all the time day and night.

 

[Going Quackers]

too many boys the girls will be over bred and could be injured because of the drakes. Plus you "could" have drake fights. Each drake should have 4-7 ducks of his own depending on breed. The resulting ducklings will also be mixed unless you keep each pair penned sepperately all the time day and night.

X2 to everything COF said! and

 

[reikichan2002]

Doh!

Well I just called and changed my order. I am only getting one male now...the rest are female. So 5 female one male.

So in the future if I do not want mixed breeds (I am only getting one male Pekin now) I will have to keep him away from the others somehow....Or just let the female Pekin sit on her eggs and not the other females.

I am not too concerned about the mixed breeding really ...just fell in love with the neighbor's ducks and wanted my own!

Thanks!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

yes that is better numbers, and if you dont mixed duckling just dont hatch the eggs, or keep him away from the other breeds.

 

[Going Quackers]

YOu can take the eggs BUT if housed together i have found my ducks have shared sometimes.. or to be more blunt 'stolen' someones nest lol So that can be a trickier way to be sure, i only have one breed of duck so it doesn't matter here all that much.

 

[reikichan2002]

I can't wait to get them...Love the "duck" personality....My neighbor's ducks were so obnoxious when they wanted food they just made me laugh.

Thanks for the help!

 

[blondiebee181]

I can't wait to get them...Love the "duck" personality....My neighbor's ducks were so obnoxious when they wanted food they just made me laugh.

Thanks for the help!
They are cool, I love my 2 little Indian Runner females. I have an all female chicken and duck flock. If you have a drake just be sure he is seperated from your chicken hens. Hopefully he will only court your ducks, but I have heard many stories about drakes trying to mate chicken hens too and the first duck I owned was a Pekin drake. A sweet guy, but at 3 mos. he was trying to mate my chickens so he had to go. Ducks and chickens do't have the same anatomy (in case you didn't know already) and drakes can seriously injure and even kill chickens trying to mate them. I just wanted to warn you ahead of time so you don't have to go through what I did. Good luck with your duckies! They are sure fun. Are you getting day-olds? They will imprint on you if you spend a lot of time with them! It's so cute. Also they're messy! Be prepared lol! Worth it though.

 

[jdywntr]

Congrats on your order and good idea that you changed it. Keep an eye on your drake when he's getting older, some may never bother your chickens and some could care less how many of ducks they have. I've heard Pekin are particularly randy though.

 

[reikichan2002]

Yes...day olds. I will be so happy if they imprint on me and I am duck mamma! That would be so awesome!

Thanks for the warning btw...My hens are all in a separate area in the barn and only have access to a an enclosed chicken yard (enclosed top and bottom) so he will never get to my chicken girls! We used to let the chickens have the run of the place and the flock was decreased very quickly by dogs, coyotes et al. so they have their chicken paradise and no one else gets in (or out). I miss my chicken girls following me around in the garden, but they are safer this way.

If the drake Pekin becomes a problem I will take him to the local chicken swap and he will go to a good home.

Hope he doesn't try and mate with the sister pigs (Minnie and Lulu)! But I don't think they will let him get away with that.

We are used to the mess here...4 messy dogs and 2 messy pigs....no prob!