Okay.....someone tell me this is "normal"

[Blondiega1]

Montego and Largo (about 8-9 wks old we think) were released today on our lake for the first time today.
We have a private 5 acre lake.
Largo is a hen for sure, and we are THINK Montego is a hen, but the jury is still out.
They both were promptly......how shall I say this nicely.......well, let's just say Jmatt, our drake that roams the lake full time, went "50 shades of Grey" on them.

Poor boy ain't had none in at least 3 years so we kind of expected that.
Now Jmatt, our drake, is on the far side of the lake and the "girls" are laying up under the front porch.
It IS the hottest part of the day, and I hope they will head for the water as the sun starts to set.

The plan is to go out to feed them as the sun starts to go down, and once they eat, coral them to be put back in their pen for the night, then try again to let them out on the lake for a while tomorrow.

I'm worried a little that our duck, Jmatt, is going to continue to try to mate and frankly it looks like he's trying to drown them!
I keep telling myself this is normal behavior and they will sort it out.
I just want them to all be able to roam the lake happily together.


[FONT=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]Am I going about this the wrong way?[/FONT]
Any advice?







On the lake for first time. Tried to make this bigger. IDK why it's so small.




Me holding Jmatt back so the "girls" have a fighting chance. I have no idea how old he is. I got him 3 years ago and I think he was only a few months old at that time, so he's maybe 3-4 years old.



"the girls" are on shore. That's Jmatt in the water. I think he was diving for something.



Well.........I suppose this needs no explanation.

 

[Baylor]

This is normal he is one lucky duck today

 

[Blondiega1]

This is normal he is one lucky duck today

LOL!!

My concern is just getting them BACK out on the water and out from under the porch!
I hope they will come out for dinner.
Been training them to my "dinner call" for a while now so they know when I go out side and start hollering "QUACK QUACK!! COME ON!! TIME TO EAT!" that there are yummy things to follow.

Is he going to attack them every time they go to water?
Any hope they will ever all "just get along" and swim nicely together?

 

[Baylor]

I am sure they will go back to the water again as his behavior is normal for drakes. I brought 4 of my drakes to my friends - they got their butt kicked immediately by her drakes. The next day my 4 drakes are the bullies of the pond already! He will likely "mate" with them if they get close enough to catch. Maybe he will get caught up on his missed time mating and give the girls a brake!

 

[Blondiega1]

I am sure they will go back to the water again as his behavior is normal for drakes. I brought 4 of my drakes to my friends - they got their butt kicked immediately by her drakes. The next day my 4 drakes are the bullies of the pond already! He will likely "mate" with them if they get close enough to catch. Maybe he will get caught up on his missed time mating and give the girls a brake!

I do hope you are right.
Right now they won't come out from under the porch.
It's pretty low to the ground and surrounded by heavy bushes so I think they will be okay.
Papi says the are ducks after all. Sooner or later they WILL head back down to the water.
It's dark and cool under there so I pray they are okay tonight.

Guess we will see how it goes.
Hope Jmatt eventually just swims with them peacefully on the lake.

 

[Blondiega1]

My question is, will he EVENTUALLY leave them alone some and just let them swim with him on the lake?

 

[Baylor]

Yes he should welcome them sooner than later especially since they are females. Different with males as they are competition - they can be quite brutal with each other.

 

[Blondiega1]

The "ladies" are back in for the night.
As I mention, our drake Jmatt is free range full time on the lake.
We are going to release the girl tomorrow again for the day and see how it goes.

And to think...........we got to do this again all over in 3-4 weeks when the babies, Tweety and Taz are ready!

 

[Blondiega1]

Morning update: We put the girls back out side at 6:30am.
They both promptly got out the water, and came up and laid by the babies in their temporary section 8 housing.
Jmatt came up and chased them around trying to get the hook up, but none for him this morning.

I've "shewed" the girls back to the lake repeatedly and they just come back up here by the section 8 housing and lay!!

............sign...............
It's like the girls are scared now to go to the water. I don't know what to do. Advice??

 

[wildpeas]

It might be totally unfeasible but...can you fence them a little run that goes a little way into the lake? Then they could swim and the overzealous drake can see them without accosting them?

Otherwise I would give them more time and make sure they had a place to go where they felt safe from the male.