What age to mix new ducklings with older ducks?

[velma121]

Hey Everyone!

So we are new to duckling and chicks, but we are going to give it a try this year. We have 5 adult male ducks (3 Cayuga and 2 Khaki Campbell). We just got 3 Rouen ducklings and are going to get a couple more breeds as well. Obviously the ducklings will be inside the house with us for a while, but at what point will they be safe to start staying with the other ducks? We also have a 4.5 acre lake that I'm not sure what age they can go out there. We'll do a baby pool for a while but I'm sure they'll spot the lake sooner or later!

Another major concern is the fact that the older ducks are all males and I'm sure I need to boost the number of females- which is why I'm going to order more female ducklings. But how many do I need to balance out the males and keep the females safe?

Thanks in advance!

 

[kaylana77]

I'm not the most experienced here, but when I added my younger ducklings outside with the adult ducks they took a long time to get used to each other. Not sure if you lock them in something at night, but if you do, you may want to make sure the youngsters have some sort of cover from the others so they don't get hurt.
My ducklings (about 4-6 weeks old) would spend the night in a dog igloo inside of the larger pen with their own food and water until gradually the group of adults became a bit more accepting. I didn't have to lock them in- they just new that was their best way to stay safe.

 

[chickens really]

That will be very tricky....You would need 10 or more females and with that many Drakes the hormones will be high and aggression will be hard to manage.....Drakes do not pick a Hen and they do not mate for life...They might all like the same Hen and end up killing her or injuring her??

Your Drakes all get along because their are no females to fight over.....Adding Ducklings will be hard...It needs to be done once the Ducklings are fully feathered and no longer peep......

Best of luck......


Cheers!

 

[Ducks4us]

If your keeping all the drakes together you will have to have alot of girls. Some people dont keep more than one drake for every 8-10 girls. So you could potentially need 40-50 ducks
If i was you i would keep the drakes separate. Or at least most of them.
And yes the boys will start fighting like crazy once girls are introduced.
And i would not add girls untill they are sexually mature-4 to 5 months old.
Because the males will try to breed with them if you put them in too young and can kill them.
However your lake sounds amazing!!!

 

[Ducks4us]

But maybe if you dont want eggs, and they are pets only.. and you dont want to seperate or rehome..... maybe keep all males?
all males can usually live okay together without fighting if there are no girls around.

 

[velma121]

My five drakes already seem to fight with each other quite a bit. Some days it's fine and they don't fight at all! The fighting is between the two breeds, never fighting with its own breed. ( is that normal? ) The Cayugas pick on the Khaki Campbells once in their shed for the night and vice versa when they get out on the water.

The three new ducklings I have were unsexed when we bought them, so for all I know they could be all drakes. Would you suggest just sticking with drakes if that is the case and not getting any females that all? I assumed since my five I adult drakes were fighting that maybe I needed to add some females but I have read so many things about how dangerous that could be. So I'm worried!

 

[Ducks4us]

My five drakes already seem to fight with each other quite a bit. Some days it's fine and they don't fight at all! The fighting is between the two breeds, never fighting with its own breed. ( is that normal? ) The Cayugas pick on the Khaki Campbells once in their shed for the night and vice versa when they get out on the water.

The three new ducklings I have were unsexed when we bought them, so for all I know they could be all drakes. Would you suggest just sticking with drakes if that is the case and not getting any females that all? I assumed since my five I adult drakes were fighting that maybe I needed to add some females but I have read so many things about how dangerous that could be. So I'm worried!

I had this happen to me last year... all my ducklings turned out to be boys. So i rehomed them. Because i wanted eggs. And i had chickens and they would have injured or killed the chickens trying to mate with them.
So if you dont want eggs then yes i would only keep males, but if they are already fighting maybe you need to seperate or rehome some anyway. If any of the rouens is a girl you will have to rehome her. They will kill or severely injure her.
You could get girls if you dont mind having that many ducks lol
But thats just alot of males!! And they can and do kill females from over breeding.

 

[chickens really]

My five drakes already seem to fight with each other quite a bit. Some days it's fine and they don't fight at all! The fighting is between the two breeds, never fighting with its own breed. ( is that normal? ) The Cayugas pick on the Khaki Campbells once in their shed for the night and vice versa when they get out on the water.

The three new ducklings I have were unsexed when we bought them, so for all I know they could be all drakes. Would you suggest just sticking with drakes if that is the case and not getting any females that all? I assumed since my five I adult drakes were fighting that maybe I needed to add some females but I have read so many things about how dangerous that could be. So I'm worried!

Sorry , yes you have way too many Drakes......Fighting is already taking place.....What I would do, not saying you have to do it though...

I would sell off all the Drakes except 1 and buy 4 Hens......Things would be so much simpler for you........Everyone would be happy.....


Cheers!

 

[Fluffyduckmom]

Hey Everyone!

So we are new to duckling and chicks, but we are going to give it a try this year. We have 5 adult male ducks (3 Cayuga and 2 Khaki Campbell). We just got 3 Rouen ducklings and are going to get a couple more breeds as well. Obviously the ducklings will be inside the house with us for a while, but at what point will they be safe to start staying with the other ducks? We also have a 4.5 acre lake that I'm not sure what age they can go out there. We'll do a baby pool for a while but I'm sure they'll spot the lake sooner or later!

Another major concern is the fact that the older ducks are all males and I'm sure I need to boost the number of females- which is why I'm going to order more female ducklings. But how many do I need to balance out the males and keep the females safe?

Thanks in advance!

I’m pretty sure the ratio is a minimum of 3 females to one male or else the females will be abused by the males continual breeding.