More males than females

[Paintedhorsegirl]

My daughter and I got our ducks last spring, we got 2 mallards, 3 pekin, 3 rouen. We lost a mallard in the first month and then we lost another female rouen this winter. Now I have my little broody mallard is on a big nest, has been for 2 weeks..But this leaves me with 1 female pekin, 1 female rouen, 2 male pekins and 1 male rouen. The males will not leave the females alone, I feel bad. Yesterday i saw a female running from them, then the male rouen jumped on her and another male held her head down. I felt like I was watching duck rape. Should I seperate the males from the females? They all free range during the day but I feel bad for my girls. When the new ducklings hatch and are old enough, will they go after them?

 

[dumb_cluck]

YES separate them before the males do some real damage and kill the females. You may need to keep them apart or re-home a couple males. Perhaps trade for more females? Just a thought.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

What is a good ration of males to females should I have?
I know with my chickens I have 1 rooster to 10 hens..Is it the same with ducks? I love all my ducks , i dont want to get rid of any, I would rather get more females..

 

[mandelyn]

I was wondering about this too. At the park I visit I see 3 males to every one female, and the girls are run ragged. When I hatched ducks, I ended up with 5 females and had to track down a male. But I've got eggs cooking now, and was wondering what a good mix is for mostly penned birds... I was thinking 1 boy with the rest girls as with chickens... but do ducks do better in pairs? I don't know! 2 boys and 4 girls?

Wild ducks... I've only ever seen pairs or a female with several boys. I've never seen it naturally be more girls than boys, but am supposing that would be ideal in captivity?

 

[Scottingitup]

I have heard a 3:1 ratio is good for smaller flocks that are penned. (3 females to 1 male) I have a 1:1 ratio right now and my poor runner drake gets beat up and harassed by the roeun drakes daily. Nothing to the point of separation yet but I feel bad for him.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

My rouen goes after ( chases )one of my male pekins but leaves the other one alone. He does not very often catch him and when he does its only for a second and he gets away. I wonder why only pick on one of the other males not both? I mean Im glad he dosnt pick on both but makes me wonder. My 2 male pekins get along really well and have never bothered each other one bit.
My female mallard is in my barn on her nest, has been for about 2 weeks. When her babies hatch ( if they hatch) , am i going to have to keep her away from the other ducks or will they be fine. Shirley (my mallard) is still in the coop in the barn but I put up some chciken wire to seperate her in there. She would panic when the other birds went near her nest. How soon after they are born can I let her back into the coop?

 

[The Duck ABC's]

A good ratio is anywhere from 1 drake per 3 hens to 1 drake per 9 hens. Some more "exotic" breeds are fine in a 1 to 1 ratio. Call ducks are also doing well in a small ratio. I have 1 to 8 and the hole flock is relaxed. The drake has so many girls that he is exhausted at night. LOL The girls don't get overbred or harassed, which keep them relaxed and happy. I would suggest to have a bachelor pen or perhaps get more girls.

 

[veronicasmom]

I have 3 hens and one drake. It seems to work very well. That is too bad, because if it didn't, I could convince hubby that we need more girl ducks!

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Thanx for the info., Im thinking Im going to try and convince my husband we need more females

 

[bargain]

we are presently 1 to 5 and 100% fertility every time we hatch eggs and the pen is peaceful!