Two Male Ducks Mating!?!?

[HeritageGoose13]

I read it is because the drake who mates with the hen last is usually the one to fertilize her eggs and somehow the ducks know this. So 1 drake will mate her and leave, then the other one will mate her again to be last- and this makes the first one come back and try again, and so on. This is not a big problem for wild ducks because they have a short breeding season, but most domestic varieties mate all year round.

If you're worried right now you can separate them for the time being, boys in one spot girls in another. Hopefully your friend would like some drakes! Tell her that drakes make good pets because they are quiet, friendly, eat slugs and give manure so they're good for the garden.

 

[needlessjunk]

B

What will happen if there are too many males? Just curious.

they will over mate the females. Since the females will never get a break with that many males they will have all their feathers pulled out and it can turn into a bloody mess with raw necks and backs. Then if your females are stressed you will not get any eggs and they will be misserable. Drakes mate all the time and mine would harass them all night. He wod chase down my smallest ones and throw them to the ground nonstop. He has 5 females to choose from and only mated 2 and it was too much for them. He found a new home with larger females to mate with.

 

[Mary Coleman]

Oh my that's awful. Mine aren't that bad. They used to be worse than they are now. I have a drake who prefers to chase around my Phoenix hen rather than chase the other female ducks. he never catches her thankfully, but I rarely see him mate with the lady ducks. He only ever mates with them if they are in water and a female comes up and bobs her head up and down at him. I'm guessing that's the ducks way of saying "give me some sugar!"

 

[Mary Coleman]

Muscovynmore
Quote:
Originally Posted by SerenityRachel View Post

I have three female Pekins, and they get... erm... extremely frisky with each other.

Well, if you don't have a drake, that makes a lot of sense. They want one.

Hey, you want drakes I got some

 

[HeritageGoose13]

The head bobbing is a mating thing, but it also means strong emotions in general. Ducks do it when they are very happy (found a bunch of worms!) or very angry (pecking order squabbles).

 

[Amykins]

The head bobbing is a mating thing, but it also means strong emotions in general. Ducks do it when they are very happy (found a bunch of worms!) or very angry (pecking order squabbles).

I wonder if that's what Bean's been doing since this morning. She does the "tiny pinwheel" thing where she moves her head in little circles up and down, up and down, then does Jokerduck, puts her head down and runs in little circles like a kid on a sugar high, LOL!