mixed size mating

[hfchristy]

I hatched a bunch of ducks this spring and have ended up with an assortment ranging from bantam to pekin. The lone bantam drake doesn't seem to have noticed this, and sees nothing wrong with falling for the pekin. Is this going to be trouble? I've heard that mixing the sizes is dangerous, but I'm hoping that as long as the girl is the bigger one, then no one will get drowned/crushed.

Also wondering... is the same-sex mounting that I've read about something that only happens when the opposite sex isn't available, or do they take a while to figure out who belongs on top? We have a couple of bigger drakes who won't be staying. In the meantime, do I need to worry about them trying to mate the bantam guy? What do drakes do to "claim" females? Once they figure out that they're guys, do I need to worry about them becoming aggressive towards their smaller competition?

I'm totally clueless about "the birds and the bees" when the birds are actually birds!

Christy

 

[Miss Lydia]

I hatched a bunch of ducks this spring and have ended up with an assortment ranging from bantam to pekin. The lone bantam drake doesn't seem to have noticed this, and sees nothing wrong with falling for the pekin. Is this going to be trouble? I've heard that mixing the sizes is dangerous, but I'm hoping that as long as the girl is the bigger one, then no one will get drowned/crushed.

Also wondering... is the same-sex mounting that I've read about something that only happens when the opposite sex isn't available, or do they take a while to figure out who belongs on top? We have a couple of bigger drakes who won't be staying. In the meantime, do I need to worry about them trying to mate the bantam guy? What do drakes do to "claim" females? Once they figure out that they're guys, do I need to worry about them becoming aggressive towards their smaller competition?

I'm totally clueless about "the birds and the bees" when the birds are actually birds!

Christy

I think your bantam drake will be okay mating with your larger girls if it was the other way around I say you had reason to worry. All of my ducks do the mounting thing [I call it play practice] with each other usually in the spring or when first coming into sexual maturity. I have never seen my muscovy drakes in the pool at the same time so I am not sure if the drakes do this also, you'll just have to watch out for the bantam just in case. And yes they may become aggressive towards each other and your bantam drake may take the brunt of it. another reason not to have too many drakes. I don't know what my oldest drake did to get the girls to fall for him but they did choose him over 2 others. it's best to have 3-4 ducks to a drake and then you can never tell if she won't jump ship and got to another drake but mine haven't, my oldest drake has his girls and my next youngest has his and then I have a drake from this year that has his, that doesn't mean that one of the other drakes doesn't take advantage of a situation if one of the other drakes girls are close but they know who belongs to who. Duck business isn't something one can fully understand. But they know.

 

[hfchristy]

The mounting has just started here. There are two half-bantams that seem to have paired off and the girl clearly seems to be explaining to her half-brother (ew) just what it is he's supposed to do. The bantam guy has indeed tried mounting the Pekin, but he can't quite manage the climb, and being a week younger, as well as slower maturing, she doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing so just swims in circles, dragging him along at her side. He did eventually give up and try mounting one of the smaller drakes.
Gotta get some of the guys out of here!