The honeymoon is over:( Help!

[Wyo Chick]

About a month ago a young male mallard flew into my duck lot and decided my ducks were his new "group". Well I have 2 females and 2 male blue swedish ducks, 3 months old. At first they all got along great. Now it seems the 4 ducks are shunning the mallard. They won't let him in the pool and chase him away from their group. I feel really bad for him. Do I need to find him a female mallard duck or will they calm down?

 

[dumb_cluck]

Nope! They have formed their clique and NO ONE enters unless they accept them. It's obvious that the mallard is the last man out. Getting a female companion for him may be the answer, but be aware, you will be creating a second clique.

I had to have 3 pools for my ducks because of the cliques that they made.

 

[Wyo Chick]

The mallard just appeared in our duck lot one day! I only planned on 4 ducks. LOL It will probably be hard to find one female young mallard!

 

[DuckLover2399]

Does it have to be mallard?

 

[Wyo Chick]

I don't think so. I'm pretty new to ducks. I guess it could be any young, female that they could form a bond with.

 

[easttxchick]

If you can get him a few little girls of his own, all will be right with the world again. Ducks are CRAZY flock oriented.
The hens don't have to be mallards, he won't care, believe me.

Good luck.

 

[Oregon Blues]

If he flew in, he can fly out if he is unhappy.

If you buy another female, she might keep him company, or she might be adopted into the original flock and he'll still be alone.

I suggest that you let the ducks work it out for themselves.

 

[Wyo Chick]

I thought of that too. If I get another female the others may take her in because she is female. Grrr...pain in the butt! I think I will wait and see what happens. Let them work it out. Hopefully no one gets hurt. I don't want to get rid of him, then he has to fit into another group! Oh well wait and see.

 

[FenDruadin]

Unfortunately, your male to female ratio is already rather high, and three males to two females is quite dangerous for the females. In the wild, males have it rough--successful males may have a mate or even a small breeding flock, but most of them spend most of their time fighting over a few females or banding together to rape someone else's unwary mate. Yours probably flew in because he saw an opportunity with only two males to defend two females, and your flock is probably finally sick of him messing with them. He's had it good at your place, but I agree that unless you plan to at least double your flock size with females, it's probably best if he takes off when he's ready and looks for opportunity elsewhere. Not to be harsh, but nature is cruel.

 

[GrannyCarol]

One thing to keep in mind is that your current group, even without the mallard drake will NOT work next spring when they start breeding. Your drakes will harm your hens when you have an even ratio. The girls will have sore, bald and even bleeding necks and may end up with lame legs or hips. Come spring you will either have to pen the drakes away from the girls, or get rid of all but one. Sorry to bear bad news, but you need to have about 4 - 5 girls for every boy and even then it can be rough on a "favorite". With one drake, there isn't the competition for the girls and things are usually pretty calm. Unless you have room for several more ducks and some way to get hens and not drakes, I'd suggest you place all but one of your drakes as soon as possible. In the long run, you and your ducks will be a lot happier with the results.

I have quite a few ducks... I pen my boys away from my girls most of the year. I will let a couple of them run with the girls most of the time, but more than that and it is hard on them.