Understanding Aggressive Behavior

[JVD]

So I have been reading that ducks genders need a special ratio to get along happily. I have raised 4 ducks since hatching day. They are incredibly friendly and even get along very well with my beagle lol. They hatched Mothers Day weekend.

We also have another, we adopted it when it was a bit older. The owner told us that they think it might have been hatched late February. They said it was female.

Turns out, that one we adopted was male. (Unless that is a huge female that mounts the other ducks lol including the males).

And it also turns out, in our little group we have only 1 female. These are all Muscovy ducks.

So heres my real question. They currently seem to get along well. If they grew up together, will I still have problems as they get older? I love all of them and dont want to have to get rid of them. If I do have to get rid of them, will it hurt any of them psychologically? Like will they be bothered by the fact that their siblings/flock mates are gone.

On a side note, the 4 that we raised are all siblings...is that a problem if they lay eggs and those eggs happen to hatch? I dont plan on letting any hatch lol we love duck eggs in baking. But I also heard that sometimes females will hide their eggs.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

so you have 4 boys and just one one girl? find a nice new home for the girl. an all drake flock will get along great once the girl is gone. if you keep the girl you risk overmating and her dying.

 

[LT71689]

So you've got 5 boys and 1 girl. No, being family/raised together wont stop them from trying to mate her or fight each other for her. Your easiest route is to rehome the girl and keep an all-male flock. Without access to a female and if they've all been getting along they should be fine. Keeping the girl around anywhere they can see and hear her puts both of them at risk, and keeping her separated all by herself isnt fair to her since they're very social animals and need friends. Rehoming her should be fairly easy.

Your only other option is to get a LOT (like 20) more girls to satisfy all your boys. Or you can keep one boy, rehome the rest, and still get 4-6 more girls. The boy-flock is your easiest option.

And of course if you have all boys you wont be getting eggs. If eggs were the goal of getting ducks you were dealt a bad hand

 

[LT71689]

as for psychological issues - no, they'll be okay. They'll be fussy for a day or two but will eventually get used to not having her around. People have to break up their flocks and rehome/adopt all the time because of gender issues. And she'll settle into her new home fine as well provided its a good fit for her.