My 2 Drakes

[tinsleyli]

I wanted to add additional female ducks to my flock. For the past few months, I was down to 2 drakes and a female. One drake is a khaki campbell. One drake is Pekin. My female is a Rouen.

A local farm had several female ducks available. I got 1 Pekin female and 3 Swedish Blue females. We introduced them while the rest were free ranging. The females are doing fine but my khaki campbell is being a butt! He keeps picking at them and trying to mate them. This bothers my male Pekin and he then tries to mate them. Then, the drakes peck at each other. I have given the females places they can get away from the males. I just feel terrible my guys are acting so poorly.

I think in my lack of experience, I rushed them being together. I was told by the farmer I shouldn’t have any trouble because I wasn’t introducing any new drakes. They just needed to be able to see each other and have places to go if any of the others bullied them.

Do I just let them work it out or do I need to move my drakes to a bachelor pad?

 

[ruthhope]

I wanted to add additional female ducks to my flock. For the past few months, I was down to 2 drakes and a female. One drake is a khaki campbell. One drake is Pekin. My female is a Rouen.

A local farm had several female ducks available. I got 1 Pekin female and 3 Swedish Blue females. We introduced them while the rest were free ranging. The females are doing fine but my khaki campbell is being a butt! He keeps picking at them and trying to mate them. This bothers my male Pekin and he then tries to mate them. Then, the drakes peck at each other. I have given the females places they can get away from the males. I just feel terrible my guys are acting so poorly.

I think in my lack of experience, I rushed them being together. I was told by the farmer I shouldn’t have any trouble because I wasn’t introducing any new drakes. They just needed to be able to see each other and have places to go if any of the others bullied them.

Do I just let them work it out or do I need to move my drakes to a bachelor pad?

Welcome to BYC!

I believe that you need some more females. We generally advise 4 females for every drake. Some folks get away with fewer females if they were all brought up together. But when adding more, the ratio should be at least 4 females for every drake. My son has 5 pekin females and one drake and no females are neglected when it comes to mating.

Your drakes are doing what drakes do at the beginning of the mating season: they mate with females and have pecking order behavior with each other.

It is important that the females have somewhere to get away from the males during the day -- hiding in shrubbery is enough. If any of the flock is reluctant to go into the coop at night, that is an indication that bullying is happening in the confines of the coop. The coop will need dividing [or a dog crate adding] to give the bullied duck a safe place at night. I have a pekin drake and 3 muscovy drakes. The pekin sleeps in a dog crate inside the duck house.

So, my advice is: get 3 more female ducks or give a drake away if you don't have room for another 3 ducks

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I wanted to add additional female ducks to my flock. For the past few months, I was down to 2 drakes and a female. One drake is a khaki campbell. One drake is Pekin. My female is a Rouen.

A local farm had several female ducks available. I got 1 Pekin female and 3 Swedish Blue females. We introduced them while the rest were free ranging. The females are doing fine but my khaki campbell is being a butt! He keeps picking at them and trying to mate them. This bothers my male Pekin and he then tries to mate them. Then, the drakes peck at each other. I have given the females places they can get away from the males. I just feel terrible my guys are acting so poorly.

I think in my lack of experience, I rushed them being together. I was told by the farmer I shouldn’t have any trouble because I wasn’t introducing any new drakes. They just needed to be able to see each other and have places to go if any of the others bullied them.

Do I just let them work it out or do I need to move my drakes to a bachelor pad?

In my experience, two drakes, especially Khaki Campbell's, tend to compete and the females pay the cost. They are each claiming the females as their own by raping them. For me, when I had 2 drakes, it never got better, even with more females. And, since I tried to let them work it out for quite a while, they held a grudge against the females who liked the other male better. I first gave one male to a friend. The drake I kept would still rape half of the girls. So, after several months, my friend and I traded males. The second male did the exact same thing but to the other half of the girls. I finally (after two years of trying) had to get rid of both of them. I tried again with only one young Khaki drake, the son of one of the first two. He was great for a while. Then, he started beating up my oldest Khaki hen. Some drakes are just jerks and they do not get better. He is now at a children's petting farm.

I currently am working with Dutch Hookbill's. One of the reasons I wanted them was because I had heard their drakes were so much nicer to the females. My three drakes are still young (hatched this summer), but, so far they are angels compared to my former Khaki and Khaki mix drakes. In fact, my oldest female Khaki, the one who used to get beat up, bosses them around. But, if they start being jerks this spring, I already have a person who will take two of them.

So, I would suggest you keep your Pekin drake, if he is sweet, and find a good, new home ASAP for the Khaki. If you love him too much to do that, then you might need to build two pens and separate them. Either boys in one and girls in the other (make sure the boys cannot see the girls). Or, see if you can make groups of one drake and a couple females which work. Unfortunately, it will get worse as hormones rise in the spring. I used to be able to combine mine in the fall and early winter. I wish you luck, I know it isn't easy!

 

[tinsleyli]

In my experience, two drakes, especially Khaki Campbell's, tend to compete and the females pay the cost. They are each claiming the females as their own by raping them. For me, when I had 2 drakes, it never got better, even with more females. And, since I tried to let them work it out for quite a while, they held a grudge against the females who liked the other male better. I first gave one male to a friend. The drake I kept would still rape half of the girls. So, after several months, my friend and I traded males. The second male did the exact same thing but to the other half of the girls. I finally (after two years of trying) had to get rid of both of them. I tried again with only one young Khaki drake, the son of one of the first two. He was great for a while. Then, he started beating up my oldest Khaki hen. Some drakes are just jerks and they do not get better. He is now at a children's petting farm.

I currently am working with Dutch Hookbill's. One of the reasons I wanted them was because I had heard their drakes were so much nicer to the females. My three drakes are still young (hatched this summer), but, so far they are angels compared to my former Khaki and Khaki mix drakes. In fact, my oldest female Khaki, the one who used to get beat up, bosses them around. But, if they start being jerks this spring, I already have a person who will take two of them.

So, I would suggest you keep your Pekin drake, if he is sweet, and find a good, new home ASAP for the Khaki. If you love him too much to do that, then you might need to build two pens and separate them. Either boys in one and girls in the other (make sure the boys cannot see the girls). Or, see if you can make groups of one drake and a couple females which work. Unfortunately, it will get worse as hormones rise in the spring. I used to be able to combine mine in the fall and early winter. I wish you luck, I know it isn't easy!

Thank you for your response. It seems a little better today from my observations. The Pekin drake is intervening when the Khaki is being a nuisance to the ladies. I did give the ladies places to go to get away from him. I may have to sequester him inside the coop in a kennel to see if that helps, if not, then he will be separated.

 

[tinsleyli]

Welcome to BYC!

I believe that you need some more females. We generally advise 4 females for every drake. Some folks get away with fewer females if they were all brought up together. But when adding more, the ratio should be at least 4 females for every drake. My son has 5 pekin females and one drake and no females are neglected when it comes to mating.

Your drakes are doing what drakes do at the beginning of the mating season: they mate with females and have pecking order behavior with each other.

It is important that the females have somewhere to get away from the males during the day -- hiding in shrubbery is enough. If any of the flock is reluctant to go into the coop at night, that is an indication that bullying is happening in the confines of the coop. The coop will need dividing [or a dog crate adding] to give the bullied duck a safe place at night. I have a pekin drake and 3 muscovy drakes. The pekin sleeps in a dog crate inside the duck house.

So, my advice is: get 3 more female ducks or give a drake away if you don't have room for another 3 ducks

Thank you. I may have to have an additional coop for the additional ladies and the male khaki. Let’s hope he settles down a bit, but I’m ready if not.

 

[HeritageFan]

I wanted to add additional female ducks to my flock. For the past few months, I was down to 2 drakes and a female. One drake is a khaki campbell. One drake is Pekin. My female is a Rouen.

A local farm had several female ducks available. I got 1 Pekin female and 3 Swedish Blue females. We introduced them while the rest were free ranging. The females are doing fine but my khaki campbell is being a butt! He keeps picking at them and trying to mate them. This bothers my male Pekin and he then tries to mate them. Then, the drakes peck at each other. I have given the females places they can get away from the males. I just feel terrible my guys are acting so poorly.

I think in my lack of experience, I rushed them being together. I was told by the farmer I shouldn’t have any trouble because I wasn’t introducing any new drakes. They just needed to be able to see each other and have places to go if any of the others bullied them.

Do I just let them work it out or do I need to move my drakes to a bachelor pad?

Spring hormones can be a bear!

....but. A pekin drake should a LOT bigger than your Rouen hen
Even if he’s nice about breeding her, he could hurt her on accident!
Idk how attached you are to your current crew, so you can let us know about that.
What are your goals?
Watching the ducks?
Eggs?
Ducklings?
Ducklings to raise, sell, or?
If your KC drake is a jerk to the hens....

Personally, I’d probably try to figure out which drake is the least problematic, get some more hens suitable in size for him (whether the pekin, or the KC) and get a flock balanced both by sex and size.

But I know that kind of plan isn’t for everyone.
Soooo
Again, let us know your goals, your level of attachment to your current birds, and, I think we will be more able to help offer some thoughts

 

[nao57]

My 2 drakes'.... sounds like a good name for a telenovella series.