MALLARD THREAD...not rouens, Mallards!

[Zombified]

Mine are young, but I believe I have two drakes and three hens, and they all seem fine. But, 2:1 drake to hen almost seems begging for trouble, so I would, personally, get at least two more. Some time in the future, I'll be getting even more hens, so, yeah. Yay for hens! Haha.

 

[MaineiacJay]

not sure why i didnt find this thread sooner =P

my fiance likes ducks, and i just got into chickens. hes not so into chickens but i have over 20 right now. when i got 3 silkies a couple weeks ago, to ease his annoyance with 3 more chickens (he already calls me the crazy chicken lady), i got him 2 mallards. he was super happy and he loves those ducks lol.

he named them Connor and Murphy. both males. they live with my chickens. id like to get some hens for them sometime in the future. how many would i need with 2 drakes? i dont really want to get more than 2... so if its more than that, ill probably just leave it with the two boys

i am new to ducks though, i clipped one wing each when i first got them because of the transition. i was told i would have to clip them again in the fall so they dont fly south. if i didnt, and they did fly south, would they come back? thats probably a silly question

if i do clip them, will they be ok in a NH winter?

and lastly, the photos!

 

[Zombified]

The general rule(if you have females) is two/three for every one drake. Some people do well with with three hens and two drakes. Drakes don't *need* hens. They will get along well together without hens. I think they might try to mate with your chickens.

 

[kada6305]

watch housing you drakes with you chickens, Drakes will try to breed you chickens and it will kill them. to put it nicely...Their equipment doesn't match up. I house my ducks and chickens together but I have 2 drakes and 3 hens so they have their own hens and leave the chickens alone.

 

[Zombified]

I didn't think about that, Kada. That their equipment didn't match up. Yikes that would hurt. x.x

EDIT:
I forgot to add that I clipped both of my Mallard's wings, and this will be the only time I clip them. Usually, if they realize that this is their home, they won't leave.

I haven't decided of I want to clip hers every migration or not.

 

[kada6305]

I only clipped mine once to make sure they know where home is. But now they go in coop 9:00 on the dot so no more clipping, I want them to be able to fly from predators if they need to. And I never thought about it until someone mentioned it to me, But Ihave a rooster so he should pretect his hens, right?

 

[MaineiacJay]

i read that drakes are more likely to try and mate with the chickens if they were raised with chickens, but these werent. they were raised with other ducks and are about a year old or so and i havent seen any issues yet but ill be keeping an eye on them. i also have 3 roosters out there that are bigger than the mallards so id think they would protect their hens =)

 

[Zombified]

Honestly, I have zero experience with chickens and roosters, so I wouldn't know.

 

[WaterfowlWierdo]

as long as they are raised seperate they are fine

 

[kada6305]

Mine were raised separate until the chickens were8 weeks, so the ducks were about 12 weeks or so. Then they all were in the coop together. Havent had a problem yet. I had to sell one of my drakes though, the two drakes were fighting.