Multiple ducks

[kowensva]

I had three sets of ducks. A pair of Mallards, a pair of Black Swedish, and a pair of Cayugas. The Mallard hen went missing during the winter and everything was OK. Opened their 300 gal. pool in early March and Cayuga female went missing. Found her at the bottom of the pool. Watched all three drakes almost drown the Black Swedish hen. Once one mounted her, they all took turns until she almost drowned. I yelled at them from the deck and she was finally able to crawl out of the water with her wings (like a teradactyl). We've since drained the pool and sequestered the female. It's not fair to keep her from her flock, but they are going to kill her. What do we do?

 

[pallas]

If I were you I would get rid of those males, from the sound of it they probably killed the female that you found at the bottom of the pool. they could have a problem or they might just be crazy ducks. I cant tell you much about duck behavior because I haven't actually had a duck, but I have bean around them long enough to know that they can be mean. if you don't want to get rid of the males get a shallow pool. for that number of ducks you would want to get a large pool but because of the drowning issue you should fill it less than a foot deep. also male ducks are like most other wild male animals they need a female, so if you chose to keep them you should probably get females for the other two. like I said I would recommend re homing them but that dose sound kind of sad and its your decision. Sorry about your duck issue and

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[Ashleymarie529]

Well your boys are... a bit girl crazy it seems.

You need more females. 3 boys to 1 girl is asking for trouble. You really only need one male to 3-4 girls. So if you're not attached to them, rehome the drakes. And if you are, consider getting more females, although they may just kill them too. Best bet is to rehome 2 of the boys. Or all of them and get a more docile drake.

 

[pallas]

I agree with Ashleymarie529.

 

[kowensva]

You guys were no help. We've finally decided to only fill their pond to standing depth and build them steps to get out of the pool. We are also raising two indian runner females to add to the flock when mature. I can't believe Ashleymarie suggested getting rid of our ducks.

 

[Ducks4us]

You guys were no help. We've finally decided to only fill their pond to standing depth and build them steps to get out of the pool. We are also raising two indian runner females to add to the flock when mature. I can't believe Ashleymarie suggested getting rid of our ducks.

Great! Glad you found a good solution. More girls wil certainly help out!
How is the female you had to seperate ? Is she okay?

 

[kowensva]

Yes. The really scary thing is the lone adult female is a registered service animal for my daughter. She was devastated over the death of the other duck, but if something happes to "her" duck, I don't know what we would do. This duck has papers and is trained on a leash. She goes to WalMart and Starbucks. Once the runners are mature things should settle down (I hope)

 

[Ashleymarie529]

You guys were no help. We've finally decided to only fill their pond to standing depth and build them steps to get out of the pool. We are also raising two indian runner females to add to the flock when mature. I can't believe Ashleymarie suggested getting rid of our ducks.

I'm sorry you were offended by my statement, I certainly didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please know that I'm not the only one who thought that was a good idea. People suggest that all the time, it's a fact that multiple drakes can cause problems. Especially when you said they were being violent.

 

[Ashleymarie529]

Plus I said that was a last resort. My first advice was to get more females, which you have done. I'm glad you found a solution. That's great for you and your daughter.

 

[heidigarcia7003]

We recently got into owning ducks and we noticed our males were really aggressive to our females! We went and got more females and they are much more happier!! Sorry to hear about your female we noticed our Pekin was almost drowning one of the females! Then two other males joined in until I went out there and separated them