Odd behavior

[thegreenacrehomestead]

Hi everyone!
I have 9 hens and 2 Drake's. Every time Drake 1 mates with a female drake 2 comes up behind them and starts plucking out/plucking at the hens vent feathers. It's always Drake 2 who plucks and pokes, never Drake 1. Is this normal? I'm thinking my ratio may be better at 9:1, but I thought I'd ask still.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Hi everyone!
I have 9 hens and 2 Drake's. Every time Drake 1 mates with a female drake 2 comes up behind them and starts plucking out/plucking at the hens vent feathers. It's always Drake 2 who plucks and pokes, never Drake 1. Is this normal? I'm thinking my ratio may be better at 9:1, but I thought I'd ask still.

Hi thegreenacrehomestead, I have never kept ducks, but I know with chickens that if you have 2 roosters with a small number of ladies one will be the Alpha roo & the other secondary. I've found that even if the 2nd rooster gets a chance to mate a lady the alpha roo will come knock him off. Hope this helps, hopefully someone that keeps ducks will stop in & give you their opinion on your drakes. Best of luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That should be enough females to go around, no idea why drakes do such weird things I have seen them while 2 are mating one drake is attacking the females head. They are def nutty this time of year. If he is pulling feathers out and causing injury then you maybe right with only having 1 drake. Only other suggestion would be to separate the 2 drakes each with females.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

That should be enough females to go around, no idea why drakes do such weird things I have seen them while 2 are mating one drake is attacking the females head. They are def nutty this time of year. If he is pulling feathers out and causing injury then you maybe right with only having 1 drake. Only other suggestion would be to separate the 2 drakes each with females.

Great advice!

 

[thegreenacrehomestead]

That should be enough females to go around, no idea why drakes do such weird things I have seen them while 2 are mating one drake is attacking the females head. They are def nutty this time of year. If he is pulling feathers out and causing injury then you maybe right with only having 1 drake. Only other suggestion would be to separate the 2 drakes each with females.

I really love getting great responses! I'm relatively new to all of this and I'm homesteading so I constantly have questions. We have 11 ducks, 40 chickens, and 11 rabbits plus 13 raised bed gardens. The questions are never ending and I SO appreciate amazing responses like this one. I think I will try out one drake. The ladies seem to like Drake 1 more any, Drake 2 is a quack.
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