Topic of the Week - Drakes and Drake Behaviour

[chickens really]

So 2-3 females per drake is a good ratio?

Yes, it depends on the Drake and breed...I never have problems as long as my Drakes are separated from each other..

 

[Angela Thomson]

I'm new too! Just yesterday! I thought I had four females, no drake feather on the one I suspected, but he mounted the female! Cayugas, six and seven months old.

Sweet, a duck topic

I'm a pretty new drake owner so I'll sit out here.

new

Sweet, a duck topic

I'm a pretty new drake owner so I'll sit out here.

 

[chickens really]

I'm new too! Just yesterday! I thought I had four females, no drake feather on the one I suspected, but he mounted the female! Cayugas, six and seven months old.

new

Hens will mount Hens...That's Ducks...Do they all Quack loud...Does one have a raspy voice?...

 

[Angela Thomson]

The last two weeks I noticed my crazy Cayuga ducks were bobbing their heads at each other. (I thought they were just happy to see me!) It was all four doing it. We were out in the pen getting the chicken coop ready for winter when I saw the two younger pair in the water together and the big fatty climbed on top of the other! No drake feather. No eggs even laid yet. They are six and seven months, each pair.

We suspected he was a boy about the three month mark. He never really quacked, or made any sounds much, just squeaks! He is a beautiful fat thing though! I'm going to take pictures tonight so I can show you guys!

From what I've read, I think I have a good ratio; one drake to three females. This drake was not interested in the older pair of females. (not yet anyway)
I did notice that one of the older ones got up by the water pond but he did not come up. He was only interested in his partner in age. Maybe that will change...

The older pair (by one month): Buster, Sally
The younger pair: Squeakers, Babbles
I thought Buster might be a boy duck (naïve) so now she is called Buster Girl. Squeakers is the drake.
Babbles never shuts up!

 

[Angela Thomson]

Hens will mount Hens...That's Ducks...Do they all Quack loud...Does one have a raspy voice?...

He just squeaks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I really love drakes they can have a sweet personality and can be friendlier than the females, I just learned especially with Muscovy's that having more than 1 drake at a time can cause unrest in a flock I have had as many as 4 at one time and could not let any of them live in the same area they all had to be separated once they became hormonal, even with plenty of females it is more about their macho persona than not having enough females to breed. They want them all. So after many years around 10 I decided to rehome and keep 1 Muscovy drake and it has been such a difference in the peacefulness of the flock.
Then I wanted to add a new breed to the mix and decided on Runners and Buffs. Ended up with 4 Runner drakes from the eggs my Muscovy's hatched so because of how my Muscovy's were I rehomed 3 and kept 1 and my Muscovy drake has never acted hateful to my Runner drake [I am not sure he thinks of him as a duck actually] So after 1.5 yrs My 2 drakes live together with out incident. Now if I could just convince my scovy drake and gander to like each other.

Raspy voice is dead giveaway with drakes. I love to hear my Runner drake talk he runs his mouth continually. lol

 

[The Duck Ladie]

Mine drakes usually mature at about 6 months, the can be aggresive if they have a favorite or if you don't have enough girls. My drakes weren' usually aggressive to me. One would chase me if my back was turned, but always stopped if I looked at him. Once He got me though, but that only resulted in him nibbling my toes, and me laughing. In general 1 drake to 3 ducks is the right ratio, some breeds however, especially lightweight, need about 4-5. When the drakes get to aggressive, seperate or get more ducks.

 

[Angela Thomson]

The one I think is a drake is right at 6 months as of this week.

 

[chickens really]

The one I think is a drake is right at 6 months as of this week.

If it does not Quack loud...Only rasps it's a Drake

 

[enoryz]

I've had 2 male Khakis and 1 male Pekin. Someone gave me the 2 male Khakis and I had them for about a week or so and a dog came and killed both of them. After that we got a pair of Pekins. We loved both of them. They were beautiful. Always very bright white. We also have 15 chickens. They were in the same pen. 50X50 fenced in area. The male and female to us both sounded exactly the same for about the 1st 3 or 4 months. Then he lost his quack completely for a week then came back as the raspy male quack. As he got as lil older he would attack my rooster and try to mount him. It got worse until we got rid of the ducks a week ago. I wasn't sure what to do other than separate the pen which I didn't want to do. Not sure if he needed more females. I had hoped they would live in harmony like I've read before but it didn't work out for us. Hopefully we can be setup a lil better one day and have more. The 2 male Khakis were very aggressive towards each other at the time because we only had 1 female. We planned on getting ore females before the dog came.