Pairs of different breeds raised and living happily together?

[FunQuail]

Hi,
So can you have a pair of blue Swedish,
a pair of mallards,
a pair of Pekins,
a pair of khaki Campbell’s,
and a pair of rouens all raised together from ducklings, with lots of space, all live together happily? Or what could work with those breeds otherwise? Which of that list pairs off and who doesn’t?
Thank you!!

 

[Kessel23]

If by pair you mean 1 drake and 1 hen then the answer is nope. Way to many drakes. All of those breeds will get along well with the right hen to drake ratio. All domestic duck breeds and species can get along with each other besides call ducks which may need to be kept separate because of their small size.

 

[FunQuail]

Thank you for your reply!
So could I do something like three hens and one drake of pekins, mallards, and rouens? Will they cross breed?

 

[Jpat]

Theyll cross breed and be alot happier with one drake

 

[FunQuail]

Theyll cross breed and be alot happier with one drake

Thank you!
So all 5 breeds would be happier with only one male? Did I get that right? Which of the five breeds should be the male?

 

[Jpat]

Just one male, any breed would doo, Ide get a smallest breed drake so he doesnt beat the females up as bad. But eitherway itll be fine

Ide get a mallard drake because i like their patterns

 

[Kessel23]

Yes, all domestic ducks can cross breed with each other. Every domestic duck besides the Muscovy was domesticated from the Mallard and their genetics are almost identical. The Mallard derived ducks can cross with the distantly related Muscovy too but the offspring will not be fertile, like a mule.
I crossed a Pekin drake to a rouen hen this spring, here are the results-

(5 dark rouen like ducks in the middle, dad is the pekin to the left)

(mom in the middle and kid to the right)

(Pure Rouen to the left)

Large breeds like the Pekin and Rouen are not good are incubating and brooding their own eggs because of their body size, they usually end up crushing most of them. Mallards make great broodies though. You might need to provide swimming water for them to breed in, I heard it will increase fertility rates, although I have never had a problem with it.

So if you get 2 of each breed you will have 10, you should probably only get 1-2 drakes. You can see a Pekin drake and a Rouen drake in my pictures, mallards look almost the same as rouens. I do not have any pictures of the other drake breeds.

 

[FunQuail]

Thanks for your reply!!!

 

[chickens really]

I take it these are definitely not mature Ducks..
When hormones come into play the Drakes and each group will need to penned separately or the rapes and fights will be terrible...

 

[FunQuail]

Thanks!