Normal Pekin mating behavior?

[debrasage]

These are our first Pekin ducks. We have two males and one female, I know not ideal but we’ve been good up to this point. I believe it’s mating time and there is one male that is constantly chasing our female. But the males tend to stick together though and only one of the males chases the female. That male also seems to try and keep her from the food. Is this normal?

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

When you have 2 many males YES! They will kill her!

 

[DuckyBabies]

Definitely normal! My male would be aggressive toward my female sometimes. Chasing her down all day long. My suggestion is to get more females. Your drakes may try to gang up on her and severely hurt her.

 

[PirateGirl]

When they are finally able to catch her, the real trouble will begin.

 

[debrasage]

So do you guys think I should separate them? I have a coop I can put her in, our ducks have a pond on our land and they hang out down there but I could catch her and put her in the coop for a while.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Yes. You absolutely need to separate her, and not just "for a while". You need to have more females than males, and until you can fix that, you need to keep the female away from the males.

 

[PirateGirl]

You will be the best judge. While rough mating is normal for most ducks, if it escalates to the point that injury likely, you have a problem that needs to be addressed. You said they are preventing her from eating, this is not good. If you want to start conservatively, I'd keep her separate for part of the day and make sure she gets her food and water before letting her out with the drakes, however, given the fact that there are two of them and we are just at the beginning of possible breeding season, and since you said they are your first ducks I am assuming that they are young and just hitting maturity, I would NOT expect things to get better, in fact, I'd expect them to get significantly worse as they mature and spring/breeding season picks up. Good luck.

 

[onaharley]

You will be the best judge. While rough mating is normal for most ducks, if it escalates to the point that injury likely, you have a problem that needs to be addressed. You said they are preventing her from eating, this is not good. If you want to start conservatively, I'd keep her separate for part of the day and make sure she gets her food and water before letting her out with the drakes, however, given the fact that there are two of them and we are just at the beginning of possible breeding season, and since you said they are your first ducks I am assuming that they are young and just hitting maturity, I would NOT expect things to get better, in fact, I'd expect them to get significantly worse as they mature and spring/breeding season picks up. Good luck.

 

[chickens really]

Remove one Drake and try to get more Hens. Separate the more aggressive Drake permanently.