Mating behavior in really young ducks?

[Duck_feeder]

Anybody else have ducks that start displaying mating behaviour when they are still young?

One of my ducks, Moxy, started head bobbing followed by lowering her head and flattening out her back. She was only 11 weeks old when she started and is in the middle of her juvenile molt. None of the older ducks ever show any signs of mating behavior when they are molting.

I'm not worried or anything, just curious as to how common this is.

 

[CityChicker]

That is fairly common. My earliest maturing breeds are my Runners and my Australian Spotteds. I have had Aussies mating by the time they are 8 weeks old sometimes (fertile eggs sometimes the same season they hatch!) and Runners sometimes mating by the time they are 10-12 weeks old. Some of my larger breeds have taken several months to do so. As far as mating behavior, I have never noticed any difference at all while molting. My breeds that are more seasonal layers are generally not laying anyway when they molt and my other breeds, like Runners, continue mating and producing fertile eggs while they are molting.

 

[Duck_feeder]

thanks for the info! I guess Moxy is just a quick developer compared to the other runner we have. I wonder if she'll lay early too. I hope not - we have waaaaaay too many eggs already.

I'm surprised by the molting though. Whenever our older ducks go through a big molt (losing flight feathers) they get all cranky and want to be left alone. They still present themselves for mating when they are going through minor molts though... I guess our duck are just weird.