Topic of the Week - Drakes and Drake Behaviour

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Ravynscroft said:
Calmest time of the year for my drakes, they're all on their best behavior right now...

Actually, the last few days have been extremely amusing... a young grey drake is attempting to court the alpha, Lady Grey... he started out by standing several feet away from her for about 5 mins... distance has shortened a bit each day while the length of time has increased just a tiny bit... today he got as close as a foot and stayed there for a whole 15 mins! :gig
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That is so funny! I bet Lady Grey is not impressed :p

Super calm here too. No mating since the Calls aren't in their breeding season and the Welshies don't have a light in the coop to stimulate them, and everyone is getting along very well. Waiting for spring to see if that changes - I doubt it, usually my drakes get along fine even in the midst of breeding season. We'll see if the WH drake that lives in with the Calls will tolerate the little guys around his big girlfriends. Although they got on fine this year, so I suspect all will be well.
 
Angela Thomson said:
Here are my little ducks! They are Cayugas. I bought both pairs within a month of each other; in April and May. The fat one keeps mating with the duck in the back, although no drake feather has appeared. Is he too young yet? I hear they get it at 6 months?
Also, I think the two older ones (left and right sides) are not full Cayuga.
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He *should* have a drake feather by now, but been known to happen that they don't... are you certain he is a drake? Females will play hop-on-top and can look just like full mating... if he quacks at all, then he is female... here's a great voice sexing link for ducks... :)

http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artquacks.htm
 
Angela Thomson said:
No, he/she doesn't quack. He just squeaks like a mouse! Maybe I got an inbred duck! If no drake feather by this weekend I'm calling him a she and be done with it.
I understand the females doing that, too, but there are three of them and it's only those two young ones that are doing R-rated stuff in the pool....
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If he doesn't quack, I think it would be safe to assume he is a drake... the drake curl could be late, pulled out or not show up... voice is more reliable than feather... :)
 
We used to own a Muscovy drake, whom we called "Duck Dog". Because every time we got off the bus he would be waiting by the front door, wagging his tail and making his weird exhaling noises as he knew every time we got home we would give him some cracked corn. He would come into the house whenever he got the chance and would eat the dog food. You could pet him (well, if he doesn't mind it) and he would gently nibble you with his beak, unless you pet his head. Then as he nibbled you he would gradually bite harder in warning.
 
casportpony said:
Great topic!

I need to look through my notes to see when I acquired my newest Muscovies. I know it was late spring, maybe early summer, so that makes them 6-8 months? They have been sexually mature for at least 40 days because a hen just hatched some sired by one of them, and they have been fighting with each other for a few weeks even though they have plenty of room. :(
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Do drakes do that because there aren't enough girls to go around? Or is that just their nature anyway?
 

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