Neuter a drake?

[Myra]

Is it possible to neuter a drake.....my drake is in love with the hens and so now must often be seperated from the chickens and I don't have the inclination or $ to make a seperate coop & run area for him and his mate (another pekin) so.........what can be done?

 

[1lpoock]

You can leave him the way he is if he isn't hurting them, ducks can't mate chickens.

 

[Wifezilla]

They will sure try though

When it is done to a chicken it is called Caponizing. Not sure what you would call it for a duck

 

[Myra]

I've heard that because of the duck drake anatomy that he can do physical harm to a hen. Is that true? Anyways it is causing stress to the hens!

Myra

 

[bock]

Why not sell him?

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Quote:
YES! Drakes are naturally very rough when mating-they tend to take their sweet time and wrestle their partner down, wherever, whenever, whoever. Lot of times they end up putting their female (assuming it's a duck)'s head underwater and have the potential to kill them. I've heard of them injuring chicken hens, and even killing them.

Edited To Add: He only has one mate? If so, perhaps this is his way of telling you that he needs more girls. However, it is possible that no matter how many females you give him, he'll still try to mate the chickens. It's hard to say...

 

[sourland]

Sorry, but ducks can mate chickens and can quite possibly cause physical damage. Ducks have a penis and a chickens reproductive tract is not meant to have objects inserted. Castration (caponizing in chickens) is a tricky and potentially dangerous operation. Just keep him seperated from the hens.

 

[tdkmom]

I would seperate them if you don't want a dead chicken. Our ducks loved the chickens and if we seperated them when they were young, they all went berzerk. But I have found that chickens and ducks don't necessarily live well together. I am dealing with a duck mating issue right now and you really don't want to go through what I've been dealing with. They are very aggressive maters (probably not a word but you know what I mean).

 

[Myra]

Thanks for all the answers. For now, I'm seperating the ducks and chickens. In the morning, all females stay in the enclosed coop and run so they can lay eggs and the male duck can free range - in the afternoon, I switch it by putting the ducks (male and female) together in the coop/run and the hens free range.

I've also ordered 2 more female ducklings.

THat should do me for the summer months - housing will still be an issue in the cold fall/winter months - but I'll worry about that then!

Myra

 

[MuranoFarms]

I just went through this! We built 'ducky exile' lol It will get more work done on it and become permanent, but for now it's a roll of fencing and some fencing poles. I carry the ducks over every morning and put them in. At night I take them out and set them down and they waddle themselves back to the big coop. The culprit sleeps in a big cage in the coop. Your drake WILL hurt your hens. You have to do something to protect them, they can't simply fly away after he grabs them. Sourland is exactly right on the anatomy of things...it's simply not made to work that way.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=323572&p=2