Need info on introducing females to males!

[Casey23]

We recently purchased 3 ducks in hopes to get some eggs, two Khaki Campbell's and one Pekin. They've turned out to be all males. We don't really want a gazillion ducks, but how many females to our 3 males would we need to get to keep the females from getting hurt? We want them all to be safe, but would really like to get some females without having to get rid of our males...we really enjoy them and would definitely have a hard time getting rid of any of them. Any input would be appreciated!!
Thanks

 

[ralph a]

This is only a guess because all male are a little different. But i would start with three females apiece. Plus some male will take to one female more the the others and will mate with her a lot.I hope this is a little help.

 

[Casey23]

We're a little new to this, so anything helps!
Thanks

 

[JadeComputerGal]

We recently purchased 3 ducks in hopes to get some eggs, two Khaki Campbell's and one Pekin. They've turned out to be all males. We don't really want a gazillion ducks, but how many females to our 3 males would we need to get to keep the females from getting hurt? We want them all to be safe, but would really like to get some females without having to get rid of our males...we really enjoy them and would definitely have a hard time getting rid of any of them. Any input would be appreciated!!
Thanks

You really do need at least 3 ducks to each drake, as @ralph a said, so that would mean adding a minimum of 9 ducks if you keep all your drakes. If you're going to keep the Pekin, I would not recommend adding KC ducks or any other lightweight breed since small females can be injured in mating with large drakes. You could add more Pekins, or most other heavy to medium weight breeds if you aren't worried about having mixed-breed ducklings.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I know some people go with a lower ratio, but I have 2 males and 10 females. My dominant drake is named Kaine, my non-dominant drake is Tevye. Tevye mates regularly with 1 duck and sometimes with a second (he is VERY laid back). Kaine mates with all of them enough (at least twice/day) that very few have more than a couple feathers on the backs of their necks and he feels the need to chase and attack Tevye periodically. So this shows the problem. If I had 2 drakes like Tevye, I could probably get by fine with 3 ducks. If I had 2 drakes like Kaine, 20 ducks would be barely adequate, 30 would probably make for a peaceful flock.

Keep a very close eye on your ducks if all three drakes have access at the same time. Pekins are very large and if they are aggressive can be a big problem all by themselves. Multiple drakes can gang up on a single duck and kill them. Also multiple drakes will get along famously with each other until you put a duck in the mix. Then they they can become aggressive toward each other. On top of this, an established flock will usually be somewhat aggressive toward newcomers. I am not saying all this WILL happen but potentially it could. You need to watch how your boys interact with your girls and each other very closely and be ready to re-home 1 or more of them if it gets life threatening.

This is Kaine's first season. We separate him frequently from the flock so they can get a rest and we hope next year he will calm down a bit. If not he may have to be re-homed to a place where he is the only drake so he won't feel so competitive. As a minimum, I would make sure I had a way to pen the drakes separately (even temporarily) just in case things go bad quickly.

If you want to go ahead with this I would start with 3-4 ducks/drake. I would let them stay out during the day when it is warm enough penned separate, but in sight of the drakes while they are growing up. Then carefully introduce them SUPERVISED to the drakes when they are fully feathered. (Maybe even 1 drake at a time). When you feel good about them staying together in their yard/run/pen by themselves, I would still be very wary about when they are locked in their house at night for a couple weeks.

Do some proactive searches on this forum on aggressive drakes so you know what to be prepared for and how others solved their problems. This is a great forum and you will find many knowledgeable people here to help you.