Too many drakes.

[Miss Lydia]

That’s not what your looking for contact Carolina Water fowl rescue or Majestic water fowl rescue or farm rescues. They may be able to hook you up with someone in your area.

 

[Villainess]

I'm making a separate pen. So far I had a chinese lady wanting my pekins to eat. Yes I know people eat them but these have been my pets and I cant take them to their deaths. And it sounds like you and I are living the same life lol. ‍‍

I’m thinking about that too, but largely because I have all my birds together right now: 47 chickens, 5 ducks and 1 guinea. The ducks muck up the run so much worse than the chickens do, it’d be nice to keep them separate. Then, maybe I can get more females! I think it’d be in poor taste for me to use the analogy “kill two birds with one stone” here.....

That’s what I’m afraid of! When we first talked, my husband said his uncle would be interested in taking a few ducks and several chickens off our hands if we wanted to part with some. I thought, okay, cool. It’s his family, so it can’t be too bad. Until I asked him why he needed more, because last I heard he had a problem with too many.

My husband looks at me a says, “well, Pat has lost all but like two chickens [he had around 40] in the last couple weeks. I guess coons keep getting ‘em. He said he’s killed 17 coons now since they started picking his birds off. I told him that was his fault for not giving them any shelter, but he wouldn’t listen.”

These chickens have no coop to bed down in at night. They have no shelter through the day. They’re supposed to be able to roam free, yet have their wings clipped. And he wonders why I’m not okay to just hand over my animals? I have no plans to eat my birds, but if I did want to make a meal of my birds I’d eat them myself, not spend all the time and money I have into raising them, just to turn them over to someone that’s serving them to raccoons on a silver platter!

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[DuckyDonna]

I've been looking cant find any around here other than hunters

thats what I'm finding in Georgia too. I have a friend with 7 drakes and 2 girls that needs help and all I find on facebook are pages of shot up ducks.

 

[thumper650]

Just a thought but if you’ve got a bunch of boys you’re attached to, maybe get rid of your female(s) and keep a bachelor flock. Be advised though that you may need to separate some boys from each other. My 2 Pekin and 2 runners had to be kept deprecate this summer. We are back to normal now.

 

[DiYMama540]

I think @thumper650 may be on to something! You may have better luck rehoming the female.

Without any females around, do the drakes still get all hormonal and crazy? Do they latch on to something else to be protective over?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I believe that’s what @thumper650 was talking about the drakes had to be separated over summer to keep fighting down now they are all back together. Even with out females they still get hormonal. Just natural!

 

[thumper650]

I believe that’s what @thumper650 was talking about the drakes had to be separated over summer to keep fighting down now they are all back together. Even with out females they still get hormonal. Just natural!

yup, for reference, first year I had 2 Pekin drakes, one would attack the other, so they were separated, I added 2 runner drakes in September after things calmed down. Everybody was happy.
In the spring they needed to be separated into 2 groups, runners vs pekins. Either “team” could not see the other team, they would pick on their brother.
I think honestly it depends on the particular individual ducks. Some are more aggressive than others.

 

[Villainess]

Just a thought but if you’ve got a bunch of boys you’re attached to, maybe get rid of your female(s) and keep a bachelor flock. Be advised though that you may need to separate some boys from each other. My 2 Pekin and 2 runners had to be kept deprecate this summer. We are back to normal now.

I hadn’t even considered that possibility, but that’s a good idea too, thanks!