Mistake?

[MugsyM]

I have 8 ducks 6 females and 2 males. One of the drakes is a 24/7 365 day a year jerk. He is a big boy and he is overly rough with my girls. I have tried time out and he just comes back at it. He is who he is. Of course, with spring my second drake started up. He does his business but he isn't as rough and doesn't act like it is his only reason for existence. So I separated them. One female wants to be with them and they diddle but they don't seem to be as rough with her as the others. But my problem is now they aren't coming out when I open the doors. I let them out separate. If I let the males out, they hang around the female pen. The females..5 of them together have all built nests and all are pretending they are brooding. They lay their eggs, stay a few days then move, make a new nest, lay some eggs and sit again. Now when I open the doors for them, they just stay on their nests.

I am thinking I just need to go ahead and put them all together again and just not look outside during the day. They used to free range and we have a pond they would swim in but now they just hang around the pen. I am thinking the interaction is hurting me more than them but their necks are bloody, not mine.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

My male is currently locked up too. I do not think you are making a mistake! I was in a similar situation, as you, last year (I had two, three year old drakes then, with four hens). I tried the "let them work it out" thing last July. I came out to find one female limping and struggling to walk and one with a head so bloody I thought she was going to lose her eye. I gave both males to a friend for several months. The duck who was limping, never walked normally again. She died in the spring. The other female did not lose her eye but the scar tissue from the injury pulls back the skin around her eye and limits her vision. My drakes had been with these girls their whole lives. Every spring they just got worse than the year before. In the past, I would just leave them in drake jail from spring through July 4th and then put them back with the group. I did get the gentler of the two drakes back this winter. He did ok until spring. I even added two more hens so he has five to pick from. He still bloodies the necks of two of the girls within an hour, which is why he is locked up. I am giving him another month. If his hormones and ways don't improve he will be going into a pot of Gumbo.
As for your girls. If you take their eggs away they may go back out.

 

[ibarbidahl]

Pick the least aggressive and re introduce him after the girls have replaced their neck feathers. Get rid of or get used to leaving the other drake in jail. Most of the time 2 drakes is too many unless you keep the drakes separated from the hens and only allow supervised conjugal visits...but only if you want ducklings. If you don't want ducklings don't let the drakes mix. No reason to upset the balance of things and they usually do quite well together. (I just wouldn't give them a pond to share)

 

[DuckyDonna]

Does the "jerk" drake have a special buddy he's close to? I had a similar situation last year and I put my drake in jail.

He was so miserable pacing back and forth along the fence line and I just hated doing it to him but all my girl's necks were bloody. So, I got to thinking about his buddy Dilly. They always hung out together but I never saw him abuse her. After about a week of him being alone, I put Dilly with him and the world was suddenly right!