Overmated ?

[Disheygirl]

I have a male and female that I hatched and raised together. Whenever they get in the water, the male hops on her. He doesn’t appear to be too rough - isn’t holding her head under water or staying on very long. But how do I know if it’s too much before I find out the hard way and she’s hurt? Like, if I see him doing it more than 2x a day or something else? I wasn’t planning on getting more but will buy more females if she’s going to be hurt by being the only one.

Side note, I noticed she is missing feathers on her back like hens. I don’t see duck saddles on Amazon, though - any recos?

 

[Miss Lydia]

You definitely need more females, heading into the breeding season your females is going to be roughed up by your drake. It is just the way it is in a ducks life. He'll climb on grab a mouth full of feather to keep from falling off soon she'll be almost bald and could even get damage to her skin. Duck sex is rough so having at least 4 more females should help keep anyone from being used too much. Sometimes a drake will still have a favorite and we have to use drake jail to give the girls time to heal and have some rest. I have 2 drakes one is Muscovy he has 3 females and so far none are showing wear. But he is crated at night to give the girls a break. My other drake is a Runner he has 13 females and even with those he still tries to run down the Muscovy and they do not like him so now I have 2 seaprate flocks. They are side by side but the Runner cannot get to the Muscovy. And my Runner drake is crated at night to give his girls a nice break over night.
Dake Jail is when we keep the rake separated from his females 24/7 to give the girls a nice break and if any have feathers missing or wounded skin they get time to heal.

 

[Disheygirl]

What should I look for when you say “wear”? Missing feathers? Guess I’ll go find some more females…appreciate the feedback!