Rapey drakes..what should I do?

[nolamimi504]

I'm with sourland and neo. I feel that you should separate the girls from the boys immediately for their own safety. If your other space isn't ready you can put a barrier in the one you are using right now.

My own duck was permanently injured before I got her by overmating. And we get reports of ducks being killed by drakes too frequently.

My husband split our duck house in half with 4 small boards and mesh screen so they can all still see one another. He’s enlarging our duck house now since we hatched 5 girls almost 3 months) and then another girl and boy but those 2 are only 2 weeks old.

 

[nolamimi504]

What does it look like when the permanently injure the duck like what happens?

I like to watch for signs of stress in my hen. If I see her pulling her feathers out, or looking for a place to hide and get away from the drakes. If I see balding hair on the back of her neck. She’s my girl and very spoiled and a diva and even gets special privileges, LOL. If she’s in the large kiddie pool for all of them, then none of the males are allowed in and I will stand watch with my little grabber stick or broom handle to make sure. Now they all know better and if I’m outside, not even around the pool, they keep away. She has a small kiddie pool in her & one of my drakes house and gets private time in there during the day. She likes to go in for an hour in the morning and 3-5 hours in the afternoon/evening time.

 

[FernbergFarms]

Okay. So now I have another question. So I’ve separated the hens and the drakes (I’ve been free ranging the drakes half the day while the hens are in the coop then I’ll put the drakes in the coop and hens free range the other half the day so it’s worked well so far just extra work on my part. And then they can all see each other still bc it’s just chicken wire between them) well I’m going away for a week in 2 weeks and so my other family will be taking care of them. I don’t want to make them do all the work I’ve been doing so what should I do? Coop the girls up for a whole week?? Or coop the boys up for a whole week? I’d feel bad.. thoughts?
Thx,Alli

 

[Sierra G]

I'd just ask family to free range them on alternate days.

If I read your earlier posts correctly your ultimate goal is 5 mated pairs of 5 different breeds. Keep in mind that you're going to need five seperate breeding pens to guarantee that you do not get crosses. And as far as the mated pair thing goes your boys may pick favorites, but if you give them a harem of four or five they'll be fine with it. More females than males will also give you some genetic diversity in a hatch and help get a group of eggs that are as fresh as possible together faster.

I'm unclear on your exact goal so I can't make firm recommendations but I have a few questions you can answer if you want more specific advice about planning your flock. When you say breeding pairs you apparently want to generate pure bred offspring. Do you plan on selling ducklings or hatching eggs? Or do you just want to grow your flock? Will you be attempting to breed to a standard or is the goal just to get more babies? How many ducks can you comfortably house considering the space, time, and money you can devote to your ducks? Did you pick the breeds you have or did you just end up with a variety and decide to make matching sets? Are you intending to incubate eggs, or do you plan on letting the ducks do that for you? And what do you intend to do with the ~1000 eggs a year you don't try to hatch?

 

[FernbergFarms]

Okay so I will have 3 different breeds so I only need three boys. That’s why I’m going to try to get rid of two of my drakes. When I first got ducks I didn’t get to pick which breed I got but I’m happy at the breeds I did get and I ordered 2 more breeds so I’m getting 2 more pekins and 2 runners. I do plan on selling the eggs/ducklings. If the ducklings aren’t pure breds that’s okay but my goal will be to get pure breeds eventually. In the spring I will be keeping the girls and boys separate and when I want to have fertile eggs I’ll put the breed of girl with the breed of boy I want in a different coop for a week or two. I also plan on using the extra eggs that I don’t sell to eat, or give them to families for food. And then in the summer after selling season is over then I’ll just bring them all together again.

 

[FernbergFarms]

And we have two coops right now and are building another so we have plenty of room. I’m at home all the time so I have time and we have the money.

 

[Sierra G]

Pure bred stock will probably be easier to sell, especially hatching eggs. People hatching eggs like to know what to expect. If you only have one breed, it's very easy to avoid unwanted crosses. With more than one breed you need to pen them seperately for as long as you're collecting eggs to sell for hatching. And you'll need to have them seperated for at least 10 days after seperating them to avoid accidental crosses. They will lay fertile eggs most of the year. Eggs you aren't going to hatch can be sold as food, but you're better off just selling hatching eggs. You can sell hatching eggs for 10x what they will sell for as food. I also use my extras for baking. The problem with selling them as food is they'll still be fertile so you might be undercutting your own prices.

You'll probably want to sell adult ducks too at some point. If you're breeding the best quality ducks you can you'll need to be selective about your breeding stock and improve it by buying from other breeders, mixing your bloodlines within the breed, and culling your least desirable ducks.

Whatever breeds you decide on you'll need to make sure there's a market for them. I have Ancona and Swedish. I like the Ancona and they're a threatened breed in the Livestock Conservancy list. I added Swedish because they're endangered too, are similar to Ancona, and are rare in my part of the country.

If you check out the Conservancy website you can see what breeds are popular, which are rarer, and where you can find eggs or ducklings. I'm not really interested in selling ducks, geese, chickens, or eggs, but still know the more uncommon something is the easier it is to generate demand. Breeders like Greenfire specialize in rare breeds because it's easier than competing against larger commercial hatcheries selling common breeds.

If your niche is going to be three breeds of duck you'll need to plan for internet sales, shipping, and marketing on top of whatever local/direct sales you're planning. That's going to involve some research into what your state, county, and municipality requires as well as what you can do to cut some of your overhead costs.

It's fine to turn your hobby into a business, but try not to lose sight of the fact that it's a hobby because it's interesting and fun. If the business isn't fun or interesting it will be time to get a new hobby.

 

[FernbergFarms]

Thank you for all the advice! It’s very helpful!
I am selling on ebay and Craigslist, and hoping for a table at the farmers market so this business is still pretty small. Any suggestions on where else to sell them or how to advertise?

 

[Sierra G]

I've seen hatching eggs listed on Etsy. You might check your feed store and see if they have a bulletin board too. And if you join the Livestock Conservancy you can be listed in their directory.

 

[FernbergFarms]

Okay thanks! I just put a listing one Etsy