Sweet drake suddenly harassing all the females. Do I need to rehome him?

[KathiQuacks]

Hello everyone.
At the moment, we have 6 drakes and 5 hens. I know, the ratio is horrible. Each girl is paired off with a different boy, so there’s only one drake who has no partner, though he doesn’t seem to mind this. I assumed, with everyone else having a partner, there would be no issue… However, as of the last few days, one of our drakes, Omelet, has been chasing around and trying to get on top of every girl but his own. Our most dominant drake, Butter, seems to of caught wind of this, and he’s been running after and biting at Omelet.
We have a lake on our property, so I’m especially concerned that Omelet may drown a girl on accident. We’ve already had 2 hens disappear in the last few weeks, I would hate to lose anymore. If I wasn’t so attached to some of the girls and boys, I’d of given away all of one sex and just had either drakes or hens.
Why is he suddenly being so mean, especially when he already has a partner, and it’s winter? He was so sweet a week ago… Do I have to rehome Omelet? Is there anyway to get him to stop doing this? Will any of the other boys become aggressive too?

We’re planning on getting more girls to help improve our ratio a bit, but I don‘t want to bring them into a home where they’ll be harassed. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Colley12]

Hello everyone.
At the moment, we have 6 drakes and 5 hens. I know, the ratio is horrible. Each girl is paired off with a different boy, so there’s only one drake who has no partner, though he doesn’t seem to mind this. I assumed, with everyone else having a partner, there would be no issue… However, as of the last few days, one of our drakes, Omelet, has been chasing around and trying to get on top of every girl but his own. Our most dominant drake, Butter, seems to of caught wind of this, and he’s been running after and biting at Omelet.
We have a lake on our property, so I’m especially concerned that Omelet may drown a girl on accident. We’ve already had 2 hens disappear in the last few weeks, I would hate to lose anymore. If I wasn’t so attached to some of the girls and boys, I’d of given away all of one sex and just had either drakes or hens.
Why is he suddenly being so mean, especially when he already has a partner, and it’s winter? He was so sweet a week ago… Do I have to rehome Omelet? Is there anyway to get him to stop doing this? Will any of the other boys become aggressive too?

We’re planning on getting more girls to help improve our ratio a bit, but I don‘t want to bring them into a home where they’ll be harassed. Any advice would be appreciated.

Others will probably give you better advice, but what was explained to me when I had 2 females and 2 males, that when they kind of partner up together as a couple it won't stay happy for long. It's all good until the drakes then start trying to mate with the other drakes girl just out of spite. Maybe to be the most dominant, not sure. But especially in the spring when hormones are high you could have some major issues of the guys trying to mate every single girl just to be the "biggest" guy in the flock. And with so many guys that's really hard on the females.

They say the ratio is 3-4 or more females to a male because the sex drive is super high. Especially spring time.

I'm sure others will have good advice, this is just what I've read to responses and when I asked about having a bad ratio of males to females. It was good advice. I got rid of my dominant male and my docile one became dominant in no time...even trying to posture to our golden retriever, who could care less...but I think that's just how the males are.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I think Colley12 is right. I also think this is just the tip of the iceberg. The drake's hormones are just starting to rise as ducks usually resume laying in early spring (February-March).

 

[Huntmaster]

At the moment, we have 6 drakes and 5 hens. I know, the ratio is horrible.

This is the problem as you already seem to know. It is hard to give in and rehome or remove drakes after raising them this long. I would pick the best drake and keep all the hens for him, and things will settle down. Even if you remove Omelet other drakes will start doing the same thing and you will still have the same problem. And as others have said it's just beginning.

 

[ruthhope]

I agree you have a problem as a result of your sex ration and it will only get worse as drake hormones rise.

I suggest that you immdiately separate your drakes into a drake only flock, house them separately from the females, and don't let the two groups meet. That means the drakes cannot go to the lake. You might keep just one drake with your five females. You will have to rehome the other drakes. If you are planning on increasing the number of female ducks, perhaps do that sooner than later as you might then be able to keep another of your drakes. But ensure you have at least 3 females for each drake.

 

[telandra2]

I had 1 drake with his favorite and 3 other girls who preferred the backyard, and a second drake with his 3 that liked the front. Both drakes would abandon his harem and charge at a full run around the house to mate the other's girls. I had to protect sleeping and nesting girls from the sneaky hormone driven -other- drake: each drake being a gentleman to his personal harem. Even with 1:4, the hormones make them nuts.

Right now I have 1 drake being harassed by 6 flirty girls. Hopefully he'll be able to keep up after his hormones kick in.

 

[Colley12]

I had 1 drake with his favorite and 3 other girls who preferred the backyard, and a second drake with his 3 that liked the front. Both drakes would abandon his harem and charge at a full run around the house to mate the other's girls. I had to protect sleeping and nesting girls from the sneaky hormone driven -other- drake: each drake being a gentleman to his personal harem. Even with 1:4, the hormones make them nuts.

I've read so many stories just like this one on here. Sneaky devils!

Right now I have 1 drake being harassed by 6 flirty girls. Hopefully he'll be able to keep up after his hormones kick in.

My 2 girls were shamelessly flirty with my gentle drake, took him a bit to figure out what they wanted. Lol now he's all good.

 

[ruthhope]

I had 1 drake with his favorite and 3 other girls who preferred the backyard, and a second drake with his 3 that liked the front. Both drakes would abandon his harem and charge at a full run around the house to mate the other's girls. I had to protect sleeping and nesting girls from the sneaky hormone driven -other- drake: each drake being a gentleman to his personal harem. Even with 1:4, the hormones make them nuts.

Right now I have 1 drake being harassed by 6 flirty girls. Hopefully he'll be able to keep up after his hormones kick in.

Thats ducks and drakes for you!!!

 

[KathiQuacks]

Thank you everyone for your comments, you’ve definitely enlightened me.
I thought long and hard about which ducks I liked most, and eventually realized I liked my boys more. A friend of a friend swung by our place and picked up all 5 of our girls, who are now in a home with 6 other girls and only 1 boy! Lucky drake.
Our drakes took it hard at first, running around, searching for their girlfriends, but they seem to be okay now. All the boys have been hanging out together. The best part: Little to no fighting!
I know I kind of did the opposite of what was suggested, but it seems to have worked out all right. I think I’m going to turn our property into a drake sanctuary!

 

[Huntmaster]

Thank you everyone for your comments, you’ve definitely enlightened me.
I thought long and hard about which ducks I liked most, and eventually realized I liked my boys more. A friend of a friend swung by our place and picked up all 5 of our girls, who are now in a home with 6 other girls and only 1 boy! Lucky drake.
Our drakes took it hard at first, running around, searching for their girlfriends, but they seem to be okay now. All the boys have been hanging out together. The best part: Little to no fighting!
I know I kind of did the opposite of what was suggested, but it seems to have worked out all right. I think I’m going to turn our property into a drake sanctuary!

Glad to hear things are better, yes it is tough to make those hard decisions but sounds like you have done the right thing for you and your feathered friends hope everything stays peaceful on your DRAKE SANCTUARY.