Surprise! Lisa is a boy. Now what?

[Sc Owell Farm]

We started our first flock this year with 6 golden sexlink hens, and 2 Ancona ducks.

One duck had a raspy quack, but was healthy. Seemed like a female whimper.

The ducks are almost 4 mos old now, and the raspy duck, Lisa, now has curled tail feather, which we were told is a dead give away that Lisa is a boy.

Winter has come to Alaska, and we weren't prepared for this, so everyone shares a coop.

Any suggestions? What should we be prepared for? Is our single lady duck going to be danger? Should we add more females in spring? Any tips on duckie birth control? Just kidding (but seriously if you have any ideas, we don't have the set up to raise babies).

The ducks are also extremely attached to each other, they are on a whole other emotional level, so giving Lisa a new home doesn't seem plausible.

Thank you for all your help!

 

[LT71689]

get one more drake and put them where they can see but not touch the girl. she will be fine as long as she can see the boys and has chicken friends

chickens are not interchangeable "friends" with ducks. Other animals are okay in a pinch but ducks really need to be with ducks where at all possible. Getting a second drake exacerbates the need for a lot more females and keeping permanently separate flocks and this also doesnt solve the issue of the OP not wanting to separate the two bonded ducks

 

[LT71689]

When you say winter has come - how bad is it, and how quickly does it get worse?

Depending on the weather and if its at all possible for you to have two temporary shelters, I'd honestly try to get ahold of more female ducks now rather than later. Your drakes first spring mating is probably gonna be more hellish than usual and if it were me I wouldnt want to be in a rush to find more females while having to keep the two existing ducks apart and then deal with integrating the newbies and then reintegrating the drake - all those steps can take weeks and weeks. Your chickens may also suffer if your drake tries mating them. Even if he's not rough with them, they dont have the same anatomy as a duck so a duck mating them can injure or kill them. Female ducks and chickens are often fine together but drakes with chickens can be tricky - even when people have more than plenty female ducks sometimes a drake just goes for chickens still, you cant know what will happen until/unless it happens. But a sufficient number of female ducks might deter it.

You might be able to find some adult females on craigslist or fb groups or put the word out with your local feed/supply store, they'd be a better option than trying to go the duckling route again.

 

[21hens-incharge]

if they can still see each other they will be perfectly fine

One of mine was on the outside of the pen when everyone else went in. She was beating herself up trying to go THROUGH the wire.

Not everyone wants/needs/desires a flock of non producing males. Not everyone wants to or can find a place to adopt unwanted ducks with unknown backgrounds.

I will be supportive of whatever decision the OP makes.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Do plan on a separate space for the ducks.
Drakes have anatomy that roosters don't. They can kill chicken hens when attempting to mate them. With just one female duck I think you may have issues housing them with the chickens.

 

[LT71689]

if they can still see each other they will be perfectly fine

the drakes are likely to fight if they can still see the female, they dont have the capacity to understand they're going to remain fenced off and wont ever have an opportunity to mate with her, so they'll fight for her.

The person above me's experience of fenced off birds trying to get beyond the barrier to be together is also not surprising - looking at each other isnt the same as being together. Its not enough.

 

[hayley3]

When you say winter has come - how bad is it, and how quickly does it get worse?

Depending on the weather and if its at all possible for you to have two temporary shelters, I'd honestly try to get ahold of more female ducks now rather than later. Your drakes first spring mating is probably gonna be more hellish than usual and if it were me I wouldnt want to be in a rush to find more females while having to keep the two existing ducks apart and then deal with integrating the newbies and then reintegrating the drake - all those steps can take weeks and weeks. Your chickens may also suffer if your drake tries mating them. Even if he's not rough with them, they dont have the same anatomy as a duck so a duck mating them can injure or kill them. Female ducks and chickens are often fine together but drakes with chickens can be tricky - even when people have more than plenty female ducks sometimes a drake just goes for chickens still, you cant know what will happen until/unless it happens. But a sufficient number of female ducks might deter it.

You might be able to find some adult females on craigslist or fb groups or put the word out with your local feed/supply store, they'd be a better option than trying to go the duckling route again.

Yeah I had to separate my ducks (one boy and one girl) from the chickens, because both ducks kept attacking the chickens and I was afraid the drake would try to mate my chickens. I did have one chicken I had to take to the vet because of a vent issue and now I'm wondering if it wasn't because of the drake attempting to mate her.

 

[Sc Owell Farm]

Do plan on a separate space for the ducks.
Drakes have anatomy that roosters don't. They can kill chicken hens when attempting to mate them. With just one female duck I think you may have issues housing them with the chickens.

Thank you! Time to start a winter build!! We knew this would be an adventure! Just weren't expecting this much of an adventure

 

[416bigbore]

Back to the OP, Since Lisa isn't going any where, is he going to receive a new name or grow up with it like a boy named Sue?

https://nameberry.com/babyname/Lisa/boy

 

[21hens-incharge]

.....my drake "matured" in late July. He was hatched April 1st.

Spring may come much earlier than you think.