Raising different duck breeds together...is it difficult?

[Spotgieter]

My husband and I are new at this and already making mistakes. We have a 6 month old male jumbo pekin, two 4wk old female Khaki Campbell and one 4wk old male Welsh Harlequin. How to juggle the coop/run for this?

 

[NatJ]

I'm not really a duck person, but based on what works for chickens, I would put all the same-age ones together (that's the 3 at 4 weeks old), and have the older one (6 months) live next to them but separated by wire mesh. That way they are all safe, no-one gets too lonely, and they get to know each other so integration will be easier later.

As they grow up, I suspect you'll have trouble with two males and only two females.

If you choose to get rid of the oldest male, you'll be left with a trio that are all the same age, so they should be able to live together with no problems.

If you want to add more females, it might be easier to get more female ducklings very soon, because if you wait longer there will be a bigger age difference between new ones and your current ones.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I have 4 different breeds of ducks all living together and I don’t have any issues with mixing the different breeds. However age is where there can be issues, especially when you have older males and younger females. A month ago I introduced (3) 4 week old ducks to our older flock. It took a lot of time and a lot of supervision. Now with the younger ones 7 weeks old we seem to be to a normal pecking order and no longer require any extra work keeping them together.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

The jumbo pekin should be separated at this point as he is too big (and old for now) and will mate (or could attempt to) which would be harmful at this point. You can make him a separate area with hardware cloth or fencing and put a dog kennel inside so that he has housing. The 4 week old ducks can be together for now. However, your female to male ratio most likely will not work out as those 2 potentially will ovemate the 2 females. You just never know though, it could work out. But, most have issues with 2 males and so few females. The ratio generally recommended is 1:4 or more females.

 

[Wafflecat]

I'd definitely be concerned about the male being so large a breed, and agree he shouldn't be kept with girls in such a drastically different weight class, even if the drake to hen ratio were correct...which it isn't.

If you want to mix breeds...I'd recommend either an all girl or an all boy flock. Or have separate areas and manage them as two separate flocks. Possibly two enclosures?

 

[Spotgieter]

I'd definitely be concerned about the male being so large a breed, and agree he shouldn't be kept with girls in such a drastically different weight class, even if the drake to hen ratio were correct...which it isn't.

If you want to mix breeds...I'd recommend either an all girl or an all boy flock. Or have separate areas and manage them as two separate flocks. Possibly two enclosures?

Yes, I've appreciated everyone's input. It's just what we needed.

 

[Angel07]

I have a runner drake, a female rouen and a female rouen x appleyard. All mature. I also have 4 young ones that are from the appleyard cross and the runner. I have at least 2 ducks in that group and not sure on the other 2. They free range but get locked up at night. The drake doesn’t harm the young ones that I’ve noticed but that could just be my drake.

 

[Aunt Angus]

You've gotten great advice!

Personally, I love having 4 ducks, each of different duck breeds. Makes for great yard candy and fun group dynamics!

And... if you have pics, we'd all love to see them. We love duckie pics.