Rouen Males not getting along

[werewolf38]

I have 4 female rouens and 2 males. I just noticed today the bigger of the males is chasing the other off. This may have been going on for a day or two but not much longer.At night they are all in a 4x8 duckhouse together. During the days they are in a 50x 100 fenced in yard. I was thinking about dividing the duckhouse but looking for ideas. So far not noticing any damage to the smaller male but still has me concerned.

Was looking to see if anyone had adult rouens for sale to possibly get 2-4 more females as I think the duckhouse has the space as well as the yard. Just not finding adult females which I would imagine is difficult this time of year. Any suggestions? Thank you for your time.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I agree, sounds like you have enough space. In fact, I think sometimes more is better in winter: more BTUs for heat. Did you go over to the social area and check your State thread? Craigslist? Farm Store bulletin boards? Good luck. One or two ducks will likely do the trick. Those drakes. (!)

 

[werewolf38]

Yeah tried CL looking on the forum here and google searching. Have placed an add on CL. Only thing I can find are the hatcheries selling babies which isn't going to work. Called a local rescue looking to rehome some 1/2 rouen 1/2 khaki but they have 2 or 3 females and one male. I told them I wouldn't take the male as it would compound my problems worse.

 

[tsulagvnege]

Since you mention that the larger of the drakes is chasing the smaller one, your problem might not be too few ducks. It may just be that your larger drake is establishing his dominance over the smaller one. Since you only have two drakes the smaller one recieves all the "dominating" behavior from the larger one.

That's just duck behavior driven by their hormones. If you had multiple drakes the dominate one wouldn't be able to concentrate on only one other drake. In this case adding more ducks wouldn't solve your problem. Eventually they will establish their pecking order and things could settle down.

So, it might be that you just need to divide your pen and keep the drakes separate with their own ducks. Or eliminate one of the drakes.

 

[werewolf38]

Guess I will watch them tomorrow and as long as we don't have any signs of damage I will see how it plays out and separate the house. Thanks for all the advice!