The Duck Thread

[City farm]

Oh your welcome, it's worth a try.. You just never know what will work.. We actually use a roasting pan that is next to their food.. That way they don't have to get in the horse trough, "pond" to drink.. We change it every day, they really like the fresh water..

Beauties all around what breed? (including the cat, Maine Coon?)

Thanks, they are from a feed store. We had a breeder hatching egg's for us, low success rate.. So the manager did sex them, one was a female. So I said yes right away.. And left.. I can't be in a feed store for to long with all of those precious babies.. Needing a home.. We are going to rescue another hen to go with our pair.. We still have construction taking up 1/2 the yard.. waiting on that to be done..
They are silver Swedish.. nd our cat, is about 20 years old.. Not sure what she is? She has all the marking of a Maine Coon, she was a rescue from the pound a long time ago..

 

[City farm]

They are a medium weight duck. They will be 6-8 pounds.. Drakes could be 1-2 pounds bigger.. Of couse it depends on how much you feed them if you have them caged, or in a run. Do you have a large area so they can rummage for bug's??
. 8 months.. Give or take a month..

Any idea when the drake curl comes in on Cayugas?

No idea, once they are fully featherd it shouldn't take long.. but our drake, Rick curl is not there. He must be molting..

 

[City farm]

I am getting worried about my trio of ducks. I'm 99% sure I have two drakes and one duck, which presents a huge problem when they get ready to start breeding. I will have to separate someone from the other two, which will leave me with a very unhappy ducky. I can't bear to get rid of either of my boys. My Cayuga is so pretty, but my Pekin is big and soft and easier to handle. However I think I will be forced to rehome one or the other, and it's going to be a sad day I envy those of you on here who can have more than two or three ducks! And I miss my mallard boy.

What about just keeping the boys? It should be pretty easy to find a female a home and then you can keep your wonderful boys. 1:1 ratio usually isn't in the best interest of the females either. Hopefully it turns out you have more girls than boys and a late bloomer. I took my chances last year and bought my ducks from the feed store and ended up with 2 males. They were rehomed and I bought females only and had them shipped.

It would be great if the drakes would lay egg's..

 

[City farm]

This is general information about gender ratios in duck flocks. Rather than try to reply to each individual.

Optimal gender ratio in ducks is one drake for every 3-5 females. Note that Metzer recommends one drake to every 5-6 females.  Anything less than that, for instance a one to one or multiple drakes to 2-3 females, can result in females being seriously overbred and possibly injured. In addition multiple males can (emphasis on can) injure one another establishing who is the alpha drake.

I have one small flock comprised of one Khaki drake and three females which works very well. My other flock is comprised of 14 Cayuga females and two Cayuga drakes...this also works well. They have a shared fence between the two flocks and have visual and sound contact 24 hours a day. However, I would not dare to mix the flocks as my Khaki drake is obviously intent on establishing himself as alpha and taking control of the Cayuga flock. The result would be injury to one or more of the drakes and would not be worth the problems it would cause.

There is no polite way to say it other than that duck sex is the rape of the poultry world. It is not pretty or romantic and, if you are not prepared, you will believe that the drakes are trying to kill the females. Probably the only remotely romantic poultry sex is between geese and swans and even then it can seem a bit rough. So prepare yourself if you plan on breeding ducks.

If you do not plan on breeding ducks there is absolutely no reason to have drake's other than they tend to be prettier than the females.

Ducks take more attention and care than chickens and geese so be prepared to interact and regulate your ducks behavior at all times.

Well said.. & thank you

For us only one more hen would be all that we could take in for the space.. We could get rid of our drake since we are not breeding..
Our duck 's do look similar, Rick is about 2 pounds heavier.. We put Rick up part of the day, more durring mating season..
Then we would hope that the new hen would bond with our Lauren.. Since they can live for up to ten year's, we would get a older or same age hen..
Both our chciken's and duck's seem about the same amount of work.. For us anyway.. We recycle the duck water for our garden .. & boy do the plants love & grow better since we have had duck's...

 

[caesargirl]

X2!! e.
Is it hard to find their egg's.. What a blessing from above!

Not right now, the only two to lay recently are Lola and Triumph. Triumph in the duck house and Lola in a nest! Lola spooked me though because it took me a few hours to find her! Everyone else is molting and my Cayugas are only 9 weeks. Now their eggs are going to be difficult to find...!

 

[OldMissionChick]

Thanks, they are from a feed store. We had a breeder hatching egg's for us, low success rate.. So the manager did sex them, one was a female. So I said yes right away.. And left.. I can't be in a feed store for to long with all of those precious babies.. Needing a home.. We are going to rescue another hen to go with our pair.. We still have construction taking up 1/2 the yard.. waiting on that to be done..
They are silver Swedish.. nd our cat, is about 20 years old.. Not sure what she is? She has all the marking of a Maine Coon, she was a rescue from the pound a long time ago..

Too cute! I have a Maine Coon but mine is mostly white

 

[RedIII]

It would be great if the drakes would lay egg's..

Yep. Le sigh.

 

[suzy4027]

If we find that we've exhausted all options and simply have to replace either duck, it'll be harder to get rid of the drake than the duck. Crazy to say, but he's great and she's quite a snot. Hopefully the hubby would add a couple females.... I'll have to be creative in my housing as well. I really DO understand what a gigantic pain separating them will be. Haven't come across that way, but I do get that.

 

[jordanr3]

HELP! My 1 1/2 year old Peking female duck was trampled by my horse on Saturday. She has slowly improved since Saturday but I'm still worried about her. I'm not sure if something is broken but she is definitely hurt. Her right side is perfectly fine but she uses her wing to support her left side. When she lays down she doesn't tuck the left leg under her, she leaves it out. It isn't swollen and she doesn't quack or act like it hurts when you touch her leg or wing area. She just won't walk on the leg. I've been putting her in some water daily and she uses her left leg like a "Nemo fin". She isn't eating very much at all and is barely drinking. We are giving her infant ibuprofen. What do you think the injury could be and how can we help? I cannot afford a vet right now.

 

[WVduckchick]

HELP! My 1 1/2 year old Peking female duck was trampled by my horse on Saturday. She has slowly improved since Saturday but I'm still worried about her. I'm not sure if something is broken but she is definitely hurt. Her right side is perfectly fine but she uses her wing to support her left side. When she lays down she doesn't tuck the left leg under her, she leaves it out. It isn't swollen and she doesn't quack or act like it hurts when you touch her leg or wing area. She just won't walk on the leg. I've been putting her in some water daily and she uses her left leg like a "Nemo fin". She isn't eating very much at all and is barely drinking. We are giving her infant ibuprofen. What do you think the injury could be and how can we help? I cannot afford a vet right now.

Oh my! I'm sorry to hear that! I don't know how to help, but someone will. Just wanted to ask if you also posted in the Emergencies section?