Please help!

[Memgold121]

So we currently have one female Pekin living with 3 male mallards. We are getting more females tomorrow but they won't be ready to live outside for a little bit. Today I noticed that the female has a light pink bald spot on the back of her neck. No bleeding, energy level normal, eating normal etc. I believe its from rough matinv but I would like to know if i should be doing anything about it.. Any suggestions? Is she in any pain from it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

If your going to be getting ducklings it will be at least 4 months till they can be with the drakes. Have you noticed your 3 drakes hanging up on your female? That is always a worry the drakes can drown a female in water. I’d separate your drakes from your female but where they can still see each other.

 

[CoriM]

I would definitely separate at least two of your drakes and keep the gentlest one with the female maybe, so she's not lonely? The ratio should be more one male to 3-5 females. Like Miss Lydia said, you've got months to wait if you're getting baby ducks. Protect your female!

 

[elisabeth_]

Agree with everyone who has replied, keeping a female alone with that many drakes until the ducklings are old enough will most likely get her killed. The best idea would be to separate them for now.
Hope everything goes well

 

[Memgold121]

Thanks! We are working out a way to do that. They have never been separated and are strongly attached to each other so I'm not sure how its going to go. We're getting 7 more females but like you said its not going to fix it right away.

 

[Memgold121]

So we worked all day yesterday on their new pen and separating then. It didn't go well. They got so stressed and did not eat or do normal duck things all day. They were just pacing back and forth really stressed. Any suggestions? We currently have them on "supervised together time" so that they eat

 

[elisabeth_]

So we worked all day yesterday on their new pen and separating then. It didn't go well. They got so stressed and did not eat or do normal duck things all day. They were just pacing back and forth really stressed. Any suggestions? We currently have them on "supervised together time" so that they eat View attachment 2098721

I think it’s great that you let them together sometimes under your supervision. That will keep them used to each other until the new ducklings are with them. They probably will be a little stressed at first, especially since the other two drakes will want to have a girl with them, but at the end of the day it’s going to be better for the health of the your female.
Are they allowed to free range? That would a great way to relieve stress for a little while if they aren’t constantly all over the female duck.

 

[Memgold121]

We do not have a fence in our backyard just yet so they are not. They were just put on grass yesterday and are loving it. I think that's helping. We're going to try to put a different duck with the female today to see if that helps. When they were separated they didn't even want to forage until we put them all back together

 

[elisabeth_]

We do not have a fence in our backyard just yet so they are not. They were just put on grass yesterday and are loving it. I think that's helping. We're going to try to put a different duck with the female today to see if that helps. When they were separated they didn't even want to forage until we put them all back together

Maybe putting her with a different drake will help, but you’ll most likely get the same reaction.
Don’t stress about it too much, I remember first putting my two younger runner ducks (one is a drake) with my two older ones, and they hated it at first. The older ones were constantly trying to get away from them when they were penned up, and sometimes you’re tempted just to separate them, but it’s better just to go ahead and let them adjust. My ducks are allowed to free range, and that helped a lot. They were only penned up together in the evenings, and now it’s like they’ve always been together.

I think what you’re doing right now is great, it will take a while but they will get used to it eventually.

 

[Memgold121]

Thanks. The only thing I worry about currently is them not eating and getting to stressed :/