Rouens or Mallards?

[yokel]

When I was given 5 ducklings, I was told they'd come from a particular local hatchery that specialised in raising ducks for meat. After a bit of Googling I decided they were Rouens.

Now they've reached maturity, I've discovered I have 4 drakes and only one female. So i decided to try and get hold of 3 more females.

I got in touch with the hatchery they'd supposedly come from, and they told me they don't have Rouens at all - only Mallards.

I guess it makes sense as my birds are a little wary of humans, and they can fly reasonably well (they regularly get over a 3 metre fence), and although they do seem quite chunky I've heard Rouens are really big.. which mine are maybe not, they're pretty much like the normal sized ducks one would see down the local park pond..

What do you guys think, are these Rouens or Mallards?

 

[Jenbirdee]

mallards.
and the female is in grave danger.
the proper ratio is one drake for every 3-5 females.
drakes ( most especially mallards)
Are the number one most sexually aggressive animal in the entire animal kingdom. If there is more than one drake, they gang up and try to all mate the female at the same time and she ends up injured/ dead. please don’t let that happen. i would separate her from them now, maybe put the calmest drake with her in a separate pen (so she is not alone) but still watch carefully, even just one drake can injure/kill a female by overmating.
it will be great to get a few more females, and either rehome the other 3 drakes or get the orange sauce ready.
many of us here don’t like to cull at all because our birds are like pets, so if that’s you and if you can’t rehome them, then you might keep a permanent separate pen and coup for the extra drakes if you have enough space, and fencing, building materials, etc.
there is also the option of just rehoming your female and keeping your all Drake flock. It’s much easier to find a new home for a female.

 

[yokel]

Thanks. Someone else said that earlier on today. There is a community of wild mallards on a farm pond not far away. There are no bird flu restrictions at the moment as far as I'm aware (I'll check). Maybe she would be safer with them? I know the farmer whose pond it is, but not sure how appropriate such a move would be.

Either that, or I'll seperate as per your suggestion for now.

My pen is 10M x 7M x 3M tall with a pond taking up around a third of the area, how many Mallards could I have in there? Seeing as I have 4 drakes already, to get the balance to a minimum I'd need 11 more females making 16 birds in total.

If 16 would be too many, I'll have to start rehoming drakes..

[edit] ahh.. you edited while I was posting lol. Hey I wonder if instead of taking the girl to the wild pond, I took some drakes.. or a combination. I don't know if this is advisable / allowable.

[edit again] Now I know they're Mallards, I will have to speed up my plans to put a net over the top of the pen. I have the net, just need to weld up some roof trusses to support it..

 

[Jenbirdee]

Thanks. Someone else said that earlier on today. There is a community of wild mallards on a farm pond not far away. There are no bird flu restrictions at the moment as far as I'm aware (I'll check). Maybe she would be safer with them? I know the farmer whose pond it is, but not sure how appropriate such a move would be.

Either that, or I'll seperate as per your suggestion for now.

My pen is 10M x 7M x 3M tall with a pond taking up around a third of the area, how many Mallards could I have in there? Seeing as I have 4 drakes already, to get the balance to a minimum I'd need 11 more females making 16 birds in total.

If 16 would be too many, I'll have to start rehoming drakes..

[edit] ahh.. you edited while I was posting lol. Hey I wonder if instead of taking the girl to the wild pond, I took some drakes.. or a combination. I don't know if this is advisable / allowable.

[edit again] Now I know they're Mallards, I will have to speed up my plans to put a net over the top of the pen. I have the net, just need to weld up some roof trusses to support it..

Yes, yes I’m so sorry. I have a bad habit of editing frequently.
It’s never advisable to release a duck into the wild. There are migrating patterns that their parents and flock need to teach them at a young age. There may be a lot more drakes, than hens out there on the pond too.
It’s very easy to rehome a female duck just put an ad in the rehoming forum on here, or your state or country page on here , it’s in the forums , and or your local Facebook, poultry groups, your local craigslist, even post a paper at your local feed store . And I would not advertise free through. I would ask for something like $10. And I might mention she is a pet.- no duck eaters allowed

 

[kaumlauf]

When I was given 5 ducklings, I was told they'd come from a particular local hatchery that specialised in raising ducks for meat. After a bit of Googling I decided they were Rouens.

Now they've reached maturity, I've discovered I have 4 drakes and only one female. So i decided to try and get hold of 3 more females.

I got in touch with the hatchery they'd supposedly come from, and they told me they don't have Rouens at all - only Mallards.

I guess it makes sense as my birds are a little wary of humans, and they can fly reasonably well (they regularly get over a 3 metre fence), and although they do seem quite chunky I've heard Rouens are really big.. which mine are maybe not, they're pretty much like the normal sized ducks one would see down the local park pond..

What do you guys think, are these Rouens or Mallards?

and another thing to think about- I bought 8 baby mallards and 5 turned out to be drakes. As they were reaching maturity, 4 of them ganged up on one drake and broke his neck and back. He was left struggling in agony- I had the unpleasant job of ending his misery. So I have decided that if I buy mallards again, and the majority turn out to be males, I will have a plan ready.