Sexy ducks?

[hfchristy]

Do drakes tend to prefer unrelated females, or are petite bantam girls just sexier?
We have some full sized ducks that all hatched out together from the same flock, one bantam who is a cousin to the full sized ducks, and one completely unrelated bantam. We've had to separate out the little girls to have any peace at all in the flock. I swear it was like a Benny Hill show in their coop. (Anyone else here is enough to have any idea what I'm talking about?)

The boys think their cousin is cute enough to bang, but the unrelated duck is HOT. And they are relentless. When I have the little ducks in our spare cage and let the big ducks out, the boys will mount the cage. When the big ducks are caged and I let the little ones out, if the bantams walk past the cage, the boys climb on top of each other trying to get closest to them.
I thought a couple of weeks apart would be enough for them to realize that their sisters were girls, too, but the big girls have got to beg for it and even then are usually ignored.
Seriously guys?

 

[DuckLady]

My experience is that drakes relentlessly prefer anything with a vent.
Part of that could be pecking order and dominance behavior.
I had to separate my goose girls from my drakes. Mashers.

 

[Kiki]

My experience is that drakes relentlessly prefer anything with a vent.
Part of that could be pecking order and dominance behavior.
I had to separate my goose girls from my drakes. Mashers.

My new favorite word.
Mashers.

 

[DuckLady]

I also use cad, reprobate, rapscallion, chartalan and rogue.

Bottom line is your drake is perfectly normal.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Many years ago I attempted a flock of assorted breed ducks.
My big Peking drake was a horrible beast! My poor silver appleyard and cayuga drakes were attacked anytime they got near a female.
I had to separate them all by breed or I stood a good chance of that big drake drowning my smaller females.

His name was Donald but we all called him Jerk.

 

[hfchristy]

My experience is that drakes relentlessly prefer anything with a vent.

I was expecting this - but it's now been several weeks since they were last allowed to mix and the big girls are still mostly ignored, while the second the little ones walk past the cage the guys all go absolutely crazy. I just don't get it.
The bantams seemed to mature quicker, so at first I thought maybe that made some pheromones kick in that attracted the drakes, but they're all a full year old now, and laying for some time.

It's like the ones the same size as the drakes are don't even register to them as being female.

 

[hfchristy]

Update to this thread: we've been keeping the boys in their own cage at night, then penning them with the big ducks during the day, but we let them all out together for their morning run to the day cages and back again at night.
We've also added two new Aztec girls to the mix who are finally reaching maturity. One of the two is a horny little thing and constantly flattening herself to the ground every time she spots the boys - and they don't even give her a second glance. They run around her to get to their favorite and second best girls. The Aztec isn't quite as small and adorable as those other two, but she's gorgeous and healthy and youthful and DEFINITELY available.
What gives?

 

[Miss Lydia]

When my last Runner female came of age one of them would beg the Runner drake

the Muscovy drake even my gander for some loving and they would all ignore her. Finally the drake that was a few months younger came of age and she was a happy girl. All the other drakes had their own females and just ignored her laying down in front of them. What was funny is the Muscovy females don’t do this so my drake was totally confused. lol

 

[hfchristy]

That's the pose!

It's so frustrating, though. We keep adding ducks to try to give the little ones a break, but they're just ignored.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Poor girls. But they will mate with each other too. Better than nothing