I have 9 Rouens ducklings. The older 5 I picked up as hatchlings from the feed store around April 1st (10 weeks old now). The younger 4 a friend hatched for me around April 23rd (7 weeks old now). I also have an adult pair of Rouens (drake and duck over a year old). When I let the ducklings in with the pair about two weeks ago, the drake tried breeding them all. He was not otherwise aggressive though. I fear the breeding will hurt them though as duck breeding is not a gentle exercise. The mature female duck was on a nest at the time and was aggressive if the ducklings got too close. That nest has since been removed by me just about two weeks ago as well (she was a poor sitter and no eggs developed). No the adult ducks are in the chick run and the ducklings are in the duck pen. I want to put the adults back in the duck pen too. Should I worry about injury from breeding activity? Is my mature female duck likely to still be aggressive towards the other or should two weeks off the nest and collecting eggs daily have calmed her down. I cannot sit out there for hours to observe their activity. I will hang around for a bit after putting the mature pair in the pen, but not for hours so I want to make an educated decision about how and when to integrate them.
Also, our duck pen is ~15'x12' with a kiddy pool in the pen and a 4'x4' "duck house" sectioned off in the adjacent coop. They do get access to our lawn in the backyard (roughly 85'x40') when our French Bulldog pup is not out there (he likes to chase them). They need to coexist in the pen though for the night and parts of the day when we let the pup out.
To keep you from yelling at me about space constraints, I should also mention that we will not be keeping all the ducklings long-term. Once they reach mature weight drakes will go to freezer camp, and it's currently looking like at least 4 of the 9 ducklings will be drakes. We only need 1 drake for our small raft of ducks, so all of the will go to the freezer, hopefully leaving us with 5 female youngsters. The mature female may also go since she is terrible at sitting on the nest.
Also, our duck pen is ~15'x12' with a kiddy pool in the pen and a 4'x4' "duck house" sectioned off in the adjacent coop. They do get access to our lawn in the backyard (roughly 85'x40') when our French Bulldog pup is not out there (he likes to chase them). They need to coexist in the pen though for the night and parts of the day when we let the pup out.
To keep you from yelling at me about space constraints, I should also mention that we will not be keeping all the ducklings long-term. Once they reach mature weight drakes will go to freezer camp, and it's currently looking like at least 4 of the 9 ducklings will be drakes. We only need 1 drake for our small raft of ducks, so all of the will go to the freezer, hopefully leaving us with 5 female youngsters. The mature female may also go since she is terrible at sitting on the nest.
