Lazy Duck
Chirping
Hello Everyone.
Hoping for some insight to help figure out what to do with my naughty ducks.
We brought home 6 - one week old Muscovy duckling this past March. We purchased them unsexed and have ended up with 4 females and 2 males. From the research I did before bringing my new babies home, I realized that I may need to bring in a few more females to keep both males happy as I would like to keep them both.
After a bit I was able to find 4 female Cayugas and 1 female MagPie (supposedly sexed) duckling needing a home. They are 3 weeks younger then my Muscovy. I did do some research on mixing both types and found that most are able to do so without much problem. So I brought the new group of ladies home in the hopes my Muscovy boys would be happy. Everyone one seemed to get along after a couple days of introducing and until recently seemed to get along wonderfully.
These last few days have been rough though... my Muscovy are fighting each other, hens and Drakes, hens and hens and of course Drake and Drake. They are just over 3 months old and I wasn't expecting them to be so aggressive until sexual maturity which from my understanding is approx 6 months old? Do I have that wrong?
I have come to the conclusion that I have at least 1 (100%) maybe 2 drakes in my Cayugas.... but they won't get their drake feather until 7-8 months old for me to confirm and they are just over 2 months right now. They are aggressive towards the Muscovy hens but do avoid the Muscovy drakes.
This has caused my ducks to not intergrate so well together as the Cayuga Drake has 3 to 4 females who are bonded to him and the other Muscovy drakes only have a 2 female ratio.
I know I'll have to remove the Cayuga drake(s) --- Do you think the remaining Cayuga and MagPie females would begin to become one with the Muscovy? Would my flock be happy again? Or should I re-home all 5 together as they are bonded? I am worried the Muscovy will hurt the female Cayugas as I do have a runt who is so much smaller.
I really don't want the ducks to get hurt and will do what needs to be done to restore some peace in the quack shack.
Looking forward to hearing what others thoughts might be. Thank you for taking the time.
Hoping for some insight to help figure out what to do with my naughty ducks.
We brought home 6 - one week old Muscovy duckling this past March. We purchased them unsexed and have ended up with 4 females and 2 males. From the research I did before bringing my new babies home, I realized that I may need to bring in a few more females to keep both males happy as I would like to keep them both.
After a bit I was able to find 4 female Cayugas and 1 female MagPie (supposedly sexed) duckling needing a home. They are 3 weeks younger then my Muscovy. I did do some research on mixing both types and found that most are able to do so without much problem. So I brought the new group of ladies home in the hopes my Muscovy boys would be happy. Everyone one seemed to get along after a couple days of introducing and until recently seemed to get along wonderfully.
These last few days have been rough though... my Muscovy are fighting each other, hens and Drakes, hens and hens and of course Drake and Drake. They are just over 3 months old and I wasn't expecting them to be so aggressive until sexual maturity which from my understanding is approx 6 months old? Do I have that wrong?
I have come to the conclusion that I have at least 1 (100%) maybe 2 drakes in my Cayugas.... but they won't get their drake feather until 7-8 months old for me to confirm and they are just over 2 months right now. They are aggressive towards the Muscovy hens but do avoid the Muscovy drakes.
This has caused my ducks to not intergrate so well together as the Cayuga Drake has 3 to 4 females who are bonded to him and the other Muscovy drakes only have a 2 female ratio.
I know I'll have to remove the Cayuga drake(s) --- Do you think the remaining Cayuga and MagPie females would begin to become one with the Muscovy? Would my flock be happy again? Or should I re-home all 5 together as they are bonded? I am worried the Muscovy will hurt the female Cayugas as I do have a runt who is so much smaller.
I really don't want the ducks to get hurt and will do what needs to be done to restore some peace in the quack shack.
Looking forward to hearing what others thoughts might be. Thank you for taking the time.
