Pekin Ducks - Do they need to pair off to be happy?

[Jaszune]

Hi everyone!
We raised 2 pekin's from 1 week old, a male and a female. They are a little over 1 year old now, and are very happy together. Yesterday our neighbor asked if we could take a rescue male pekin duck. We said yes, and put him in the backyard with our other two and the chickens. He seems to be doing ok, eating/drinking/swimming/quacking and the lot. My question is: will he try to dominate the other male for the single female over time? Should we try to find another female so they can both pair off or will he be happy enough hanging out with the group?

 

[Pyxis]

You really don't want two males and one female. They are not monogamous and those two males are going to run that poor female ragged mating with her. You need more girls ASAP. The best ratio is 3 to 4 females per male but at the very least you need pairs.

Worse still, if the boys feel they don't have enough girls they may start going after your chicken hens to mate too, and thanks to anatomical differences this can seriously injure or even kill the hens.

 

[Jaszune]

Thank you very much for the heads up! I will look into getting a few more girls in there right away. We are moving next month to a much bigger piece of land so I hope they will all be happy with expanded grazing grounds as well.

 

[Pyxis]

Sounds good! They'll be happy boys for sure

 

[The Duck Ladie]

If you are going to get two drakes, I would get at least 3 more girls, boys can beat up the girls bad if there aren't enough.

 

[Jaszune]

If I can grab a photo and a video of the new duck, would someone on here be able to identify if its a male or female? The neighbor we got it from was not sure of the sex either, I just assumed it was a male since it was so big in size.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If I can grab a photo and a video of the new duck, would someone on here be able to identify if its a male or female? The neighbor we got it from was not sure of the sex either, I just assumed it was a male since it was so big in size.

Yes do upload a video, but does the new duck have the drake curled tail feather and does it quack loud or sound raspy like he has a cold?

@Jaszune and welcome to BYC!

 

[Jaszune]

The new duck has a very loud, very typical sounding "quack". I do not see a curled tail feather.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The new duck has a very loud, very typical sounding "quack". I do not see a curled tail feather.

Sounds like you have another female.

 

[Jaszune]

Well then yay! I will still try to get a photo and videos of all 3 for you guys, for the general cuteness of the ducks, and also to see if we can confirm the sexes. Thanks everyone!