Over Amorous Drake help

[Sadiew]

Is there anything I can do to calm down an over amorous (horny) drake? I have one drake and 3 ladies, one of which just had baby so she is like get out here you horny beast you aint touching me, one more sitting on eggs so she is safe except when she ventures for toilet break, so that leaves one little lady to attract the attention, I am worried it will be too much for her as he seems to have a one track mind and ready 24/7, is there anything I can do other than separating?

 

[Going Quackers]

Probably not, i am have enough ladies where when someone is with clutch or sitting they have something to keep them busy with. He could harm the remaining if he doesn't chill out.

Do they free range? my Muscovy do, this helps loads, distractions basically, but i know not everyone can.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It's rough on the only duck when everyone goes broody, my dominant drake has all 3 of his girls broody now not sitting on anything but broody none the less,

so what does he do? well he doesn't rape them as much anymore I guess he's tired of that, but he has taken to going after his sons 2 girls, but so far only one lets him the other one avoids him like the plague. So if you can't introduce more girls then you may have to separate him especially if he is overly mating the only one left. I have been watching my duck dynasty the last week and looks like the strong mating drive is beginning to wane, or just wishful thinking on my part and it will start up again. Hopefully you'll have more girls hatch but be careful with this drake and ducklings.

 

[DeckDuck]

This is perhaps an excessively time consuming solution, but when my drake gets really crazy I find that taking him on a walk and getting him good and tired is the only thing that makes him reasonable again. We have a lot of trails, so I pick him up and carry him far away from his yard, perhaps a fifth of a mile, and then set him down. He worries about being so far from home and will walk all the way back at a brisk pace. I just walk along beside him, keeping an eye out for predators just in case. By the time we get back he's always feeling mellow. For that day, and the day after if I'm lucky, he will be a very reasonable duck.

Honestly, I have too many other animals to be walking and though I love my drake very much I don't bother to walk him very often. If he gets too rowdy I usually just partition him from the girls for a while and let him be the one who has to deal with his crazy hormones.

It's probably important to start slow and work a duck's way up to any intended exercise. I'm careful to pick my drake up if he begins to overexert. Also, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be a good idea to do this with females, as I think I read somewhere that it can cause fatal issues with their egg laying.

 

[Sadiew]

Thank you for the replies.

All my ducks normally go out for daily walk and mooch around but since 2 are sitting and one with baby Mr Drake dont want to go far, I let him out but he hangs around the gate almost begging to get back in, but I like your idea of carrying him further away will start on that tomorrow a little bit distance at a time, I will probably have to run to keep up with him as I bet he goes like lightening back to his girls

they do have a large run, but if he carries on like this will have to separate him for a bit.

 

[Sadiew]

This is perhaps an excessively time consuming solution, but when my drake gets really crazy I find that taking him on a walk and getting him good and tired is the only thing that makes him reasonable again. We have a lot of trails, so I pick him up and carry him far away from his yard, perhaps a fifth of a mile, and then set him down. He worries about being so far from home and will walk all the way back at a brisk pace. I just walk along beside him, keeping an eye out for predators just in case. By the time we get back he's always feeling mellow. For that day, and the day after if I'm lucky, he will be a very reasonable duck.

Honestly, I have too many other animals to be walking and though I love my drake very much I don't bother to walk him very often. If he gets too rowdy I usually just partition him from the girls for a while and let him be the one who has to deal with his crazy hormones.

It's probably important to start slow and work a duck's way up to any intended exercise. I'm careful to pick my drake up if he begins to overexert. Also, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be a good idea to do this with females, as I think I read somewhere that it can cause fatal issues with their egg laying.

He he I did as you suggested and carried him further afield, OMG should have seen speed of him running back was so funny, let him have a rest and took him further again bee line back but yep he was knackered he had a splash in pool then lay settled down for quite a while, will be doing that on daily basis now till am sure he has calmed down some, so thank you .

 

[Miss Lydia]

He he I did as you suggested and carried him further afield, OMG should have seen speed of him running back was so funny, let him have a rest and took him further again bee line back but yep he was knackered he had a splash in pool then lay settled down for quite a while, will be doing that on daily basis now till am sure he has calmed down some, so thank you .

 

[DeckDuck]

Quote:
I'm glad I was able to help! It sounds like your drake responded in the very same way that mine does. They sure can lay on the speed when they want to -It's pretty fun to watch them go, isn't it? And it's so good to have a break from their voracity for a while.


Just keep a sharp eye out for hawks. We have a nesting pair that comes out to 'watch' us sometimes while we're in the field, and then I pick the duck up until we reach some tree cover. According to the hawks a duck is at its most vulnerable when running through an open meadow.