Mating Issue

[valsey]

I got my first ducks last spring - 3 pekins. Turns out I have two males and one female. They are about 22 wks old now and since reaching maturity, one couple was leaving the 3rd male out - not letting him near the water and mildly running him off. So I thought I'd get him a mate. I brought her home a couple of weeks ago and I'm having issues. She's not as old as they are (don't know her age), but she clearly doesn't understand why the male is trying to get on top of her and go after her, So she runs from him and stays off by herself away from the others. When she does approach, he goes after her. I'm not sure if he's running her off or attempting to mate with her, but she runs and he either loses interest or that wasn't his original intent, and goes back to the other two. He's had his way with her several times and it really scares her - between his fumbling and her fear, it's kind of disconcerting to see.

Anyway - wondering if I should intervene somehow or just let them work it out. I feel like she's going to be traumatized (kidding, sort of). As I said, I don't know how old she is, but if I were to take a stab at it I would say she's maybe 8 weeks younger than the others.

I have the option to return her to the owner and get her back later if I want to

Any opinions?

 

[Kevin565]

Personally I would return her. She seems to be having alot of stress from this. Or you may just have a hypersexual duck. Some males can be extremely rough with mating and don't grow out of it.

 

[veronicasmom]

Two males and one female are not a good ratio. I would return her for her own safety.

 

[FarmrGirl]

if you want to keep both your boys I would suggest a bare minimum of a 3 to 1 ratio on girls to boys. Your females will become terribly overworked and only having 2 "pairs" will just cause extra competition between the males... which will be bad for the girls. Either get rid of your extra boy or get several more girls.

 

[valsey]

Getting rid of the new girl will only give the old girl more work, no?

I think it's going to be much more difficult to find the male a home than it is to get another female. I already think I'm at my limit with housing ducks, so I can only get one more, max. Do you think that would help the situation? Get one more female, which would put me at 2 drakes and 3 hens?

 

[evansacres]

I personally would get rid of the aggressive drake and still get another female. I have one male to three females and everyone is content. I do have ducklings right now and I have had to separate my drake and one female so the ducklings don't get hurt. If you don't want to deal with little ones perhaps it would be best to get rid of the drakes altogether and just keep your females. You will still get eggs but no hassles.

 

[valsey]

Well I took her back to the previous owner. He has loads of free-ranging birds of all kinds, and I tell you, the Pekins there immediately ran up to her and started gabbing with her. Seriously. Two other ducks in particular were all over her, chatting, rubbing necks, nibbling at one another...it was quite a sight.

No one can tell me they don't form bonds with each other after seeing that.

If I get another female down the road - which I should - I'll have to get a pair, so that they can be buddies when they come to my farm.