Male duck question......

[turtlesgalore]

agree with "needlessjunk" but one hen cannot be left with two drakes results will end badly, one duck left alone = one sad duck. reduce or add - those seem to be your only choices.

 

[shortgrass]

Gotcha. So just adding one more female won't work therefore I guess I will have to give the male duck away and just have 1 and 1 until I'm able to have the correct ratio.

Adding one female would work just fine. What breeds are they? Mallards are singular pair mates, and Runners are one male per 2-3 females, for example.. Depends on breeds whether or not one male and one female would be good together or fight over females...

My runner male gets pretty antsy when one of the mallards approaches his females, but they never scuffled; the extra male Mallard would just corner her when Hershey wasn't watching lol

The mallards are jerks though; they never fought, but they bugged the females too much when the ratio was off.

 

[SamiLexi]

The ducks are roughly 6 months old. I know the female just hit laying age last month. I would have to get rid of one of the males because my boyfriend let me get them so that we could have their eggs, he doesn't want all males.

 

[jducour]

The ducks are roughly 6 months old. I know the female just hit laying age last month. I would have to get rid of one of the males because my boyfriend let me get them so that we could have their eggs, he doesn't want all males.

If you get rid of one of the males, make sure you add at least one or two females. One male to one female rarely works, the male mates too much for one female. I was in this situation, and I chose to add adult laying females to my flock. I was sure of their gender, and I knew they were good layers. Look through your local online classifieds, there are always ducks that need good homes. If I were to look right now at my local classifieds, there are more than 20 female ducks needing a home right now. I have added 6 adult female ducks to my flock, and it has gone pretty smoothly. I didn't want to raise ducklings again, and it was nice to have eggs within a few weeks of them arriving.

 

[Kroelies]

If the drakes are a Rouen and a mallard, wouldn't they be happy with just one girl each? My drake (mallard) has one girl and my girls have drakes all for themselves. They do peck each other... And do a weird launch attack which looks really funny

 

[jducour]

If the drakes are a Rouen and a mallard, wouldn't they be happy with just one girl each? My drake (mallard) has one girl and my girls have drakes all for themselves. They do peck each other... And do a weird launch attack which looks really funny

You would think so - but no, they won't. I'm not sure about the mallard, I've never owned any true mallards. The rouen will mate all year round, and will mate with the mallards mate. The mallard won't appreciate that. I had four ducks for my two drakes, and it was not enough for them. I now have six ducks for my two drakes, and everyone is more happy.

 

[Kroelies]

Mallards also mate in fall and winter, but not all the time. They nod at each other "do you love me?" and then the girl decides if they mate. But my ducks are not enclosed and they also have to find food so they can't spend all day on duck sex

 

[jducour]

Mallards also mate in fall and winter, but not all the time. They nod at each other "do you love me?" and then the girl decides if they mate. But my ducks are not enclosed and they also have to find food so they can't spend all day on duck sex

My ducks must be pretty randy then, because they forage all day too, and mate at least 10 times a day. My runner is very energetic!

 

[needlessjunk]

My ducks must be pretty randy then, because they forage all day too, and mate at least 10 times a day.  My runner is very energetic!

X2! My guy was all about mating any time her could. Forage, mate every female then go back to foraging then pin down every female again and slam them to the ground while foraging. Then go back to foraging and if one though about using the pool it was go time all over again.

 

[shortgrass]

My ducks must be pretty randy then, because they forage all day too, and mate at least 10 times a day.  My runner is very energetic!

Lol Runners ARE very virile Mallards prefer water to do their thing in, but Runners will just go at it whenever they feel like it.

I have both Runners and Mallards, and the time I run into trouble is when the male mallards outnumber the females, usually after spring hatch and through summer; I only keep one male runner, just because he's so protective if his ladies, but the female mallards won't even let him get close. I let as many drake Mallards stay as will have even females and males; However, the drake Mallards will chase the female runners down if they are willing, and they'll all chase each other, but no aggression to the point of injury.

They have 2 acres and a creek though. That makes a difference having space for them to separate into two mini flocks, which is what they seem to do; segregate. With enough females for each male, they get along just fine until spring hatch and a bunch more males need thinned out