Pet Ducks Dumped in Neighborhood Pond, Help?

[Miss Lydia]

That’s a good question.

 

[SansDuck]

That’s a good question.

Hey Miss Lydia, I just did the nightly routine of locking up the ducks but i tried something a little different.
When i went to lock everyone up, I decided at the last moment to put Downy in with Fergus, well they did their little head bobbing routine and ended up mating the nice way.

By the nice way I mean no grabbing chest,other body parts or chasing anyone down and forcing them to mate.

It was very pleasant to see Fergus being a gentleman again.
Very nice communication of head bobbing, and Downy sat down so Fergus can do his thing. It was over very quickly, and no one was quacking their brains off.

After Fergus was done, Downy looked like she wanted to be with the others, so I went back in and got her back with her other duck friends.

I was thinking a few times a week, I could put Downy in at night on Fergus's side of the pen. Let him mate with Downy once, and take her back out for the rest of night

Could this routine work perhaps? I've havent seen the WH drake mate with Downy so far.
I dont think this routine would lead Downy to being overmated, what do you think Miss Lydia?

It seems Fergus can control himself at least around Downy by herself, but it seems with other ducks he turns into a crazed sex maniac who's rough with anything he can grab onto.
It's a shame as the new girlfriends were for Fergus but it seems Downy gained some new friends, so I guess it still worked out in some way?

The end goal was so Downy wouldnt be over mated or worse, dead. So far this seems to be the most fair outcome?
Downy gets friends who hopefully wont mate her to death, and Fergus gets to mate a few times a week in a control situation.
I mean it's not a perfect situation, but this might be able to work out for the time being.

Also when drakes reach old age, do they ever stop mating or slow down on the mating?

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Hey Miss Lydia, I just did the nightly routine of locking up the ducks but i tried something a little different.
When i went to lock everyone up, I decided at the last moment to put Downy in with Fergus, well they did their little head bobbing routine and ended up mating the nice way.

By the nice way I mean no grabbing chest,other body parts or chasing anyone down and forcing them to mate.

It was very pleasant to see Fergus being a gentleman again.
Very nice communication of head bobbing, and Downy sat down so Fergus can do his thing. It was over very quickly, and no one was quacking their brains off.

After Fergus was done, Downy looked like she wanted to be with the others, so I went back in and got her back with her other duck friends.

I was thinking a few times a week, I could put Downy in at night on Fergus's side of the pen. Let him mate with Downy once, and take her back out for the rest of night

Could this routine work perhaps? I've havent seen the WH drake mate with Downy so far.
I dont think this routine would lead Downy to being overmated, what do you think Miss Lydia?

It seems Fergus can control himself at least around Downy by herself, but it seems with other ducks he turns into a crazed sex maniac who's rough with anything he can grab onto.
It's a shame as the new girlfriends were for Fergus but it seems Downy gained some new friends, so I guess it still worked out in some way?

The end goal was so Downy wouldnt be over mated or worse, dead. So far this seems to be the most fair outcome?
Downy gets friends who hopefully wont mate her to death, and Fergus gets to mate a few times a week in a control situation.
I mean it's not a perfect situation, but this might be able to work out for the time being.

Also when drakes reach old age, do they ever stop mating or slow down on the mating?

They may stop mating in the winter

 

[Miss Lydia]

That sounds like a really good plan. And they may not mate over winter you can always hope.

 

[SansDuck]

That sounds like a really good plan. And they may not mate over winter you can always hope.

Hello @Miss Lydia I hope you are doing well

Everyone in the flock has been doing really great, I haven't had to use drake jail as the girls heads seem full and healthy.

Fergus and Webby (the harlequin drake) get along as you expect. Webby is the best little guard duck, if Fergus hormones get of line and he wants to mate everyone in site Webby is able to protect the Herd very well.
I wouldnt call Webby a bully but he sure does let Fergus know he cant abuse the girls all day long.

The ducks are just over six months and two out of three have began to lay eggs and that concerns me.

Is that way to young for such little ducks to be laying so early? Should I worry for their health

I feel as if it my fault, when the ducks were ducklings they were scared of the dark and required a nightlight and we've continued that habit to this day.
And I feel all that artificial light made they go into lay way to early.
I hope I didnt cause them any health issues, and i dont know what to do about the light now.
When I tried to turn it off the other night they screamed and quack for a good few hours not continously but a lot more then a usual night. I think they are still scared of the dark and I feel bad about taking away their nightlight.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you put one in that doesn't have much light but just a bit? I have one like that in my coop for my youngest. Sounds like you have a real nice flock now. That's awesome. Don't worry too much about the girls laying at 6 mo. my Runners were laying at 4.5 month old Just make sure they have a good quality of feed and oyster shell for calcium.

About the light you can try cold turkey they will be upset maybe for a night or 2 but they'll adjust they have each other.

Love to see some pic since everyone has grown up.

Good to see you back on.

 

[Jlw0903]

Oh-and hens will "bury" their nests!

I had no idea they do this!!! I thought it would just be out there! Crap I'm going to have to start checking my duck hut more carefully from now on since mine are at or almost at laying age....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Its amazing how deep they can bury eggs. My Muscovy are the best at it I've ever seen.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Hello @Miss Lydia I hope you are doing well

Everyone in the flock has been doing really great, I haven't had to use drake jail as the girls heads seem full and healthy.

Fergus and Webby (the harlequin drake) get along as you expect. Webby is the best little guard duck, if Fergus hormones get of line and he wants to mate everyone in site Webby is able to protect the Herd very well.
I wouldnt call Webby a bully but he sure does let Fergus know he cant abuse the girls all day long.

The ducks are just over six months and two out of three have began to lay eggs and that concerns me.

Is that way to young for such little ducks to be laying so early? Should I worry for their health

I feel as if it my fault, when the ducks were ducklings they were scared of the dark and required a nightlight and we've continued that habit to this day.
And I feel all that artificial light made they go into lay way to early.
I hope I didnt cause them any health issues, and i dont know what to do about the light now.
When I tried to turn it off the other night they screamed and quack for a good few hours not continously but a lot more then a usual night. I think they are still scared of the dark and I feel bad about taking away their nightlight.

my pekins are 5 months old, and a lot of the stuff i’ve read says they start laying at 6-8 months for bigger breeds and younger for smaller breeds. so they are fine! just provide oyster shells

 

[SansDuck]

Its amazing how deep they can bury eggs. My Muscovy are the best at it I've ever seen.

Hello @Miss Lydia

It's been a minute since I've posted, life is busy with six ducks lol

Everyone is still doing great, we do have a bit of drake chasing drake on our hands though.
Webby (the welsh harlequin) enjoys chasing poor Fergus around the cage, fergus being a pekin breed is not to quick on his feet.
We tried to punish Webby with drake jail but the little booger is good at flying out, hes not fat like the pekins.

Besides the chasing the boys do pretty well together, sometimes when Webby is trying to mate with one of the girls, Fergus will run over and push Webby off (since Webby is much smaller then Fergus) and then Fergus will start matting with the girl and Webby will just watch
Is this normal drake behavior?

As you can see the boys get back at each other in different ways

Also we had two cases of hurt duck feet in the same week. Fergus (assuming it was because of Webby) and Louie (one of the ancona girls) had cuts on their foots. So we had the pleasure of spraying vetericyn, giving epson salt baths, and bandaging two ducks in the same week, that was a adventure.
Both of their cuts have now scabbed over, we still check to make sure they dont reopen, but we stop banging them as they were pulling their foot wrappings off.
And lastly we think our youngest duck Dewey laid a soft shell egg in the last week, should we be concern? They have a full bowl of oyster shells laid out for the girls to eat anytime they wish.

Forgot to mention, all the girls heads look great, no balding. Downey has a full head of feathers again, I'm very happy

And here are some recent pictures of the flock