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Drake don't really "fight" the way roosters will. Instead, they put their heads down and push like this:
And the pecking order within the flock will absolutely include the gals! My Cayuga girls were at the top of the heap for a long time because they've really got the build for pushing hard. You'll see all your girls and boys vying for head honcho from the earliest age... it's really cute when they're small! They push back and forth for a few seconds and I can never tell who wins but they certainly know
I have 4 drakes and they all get along beautifully and I see them hanging together sometimes (of course there are 14 females, so everyone's happy). And once the order was established all the pushing stopped. There are occasional "mountings" that are clearly a dominance check, but no one gets hurt and it only lasts a few seconds while the a primary reminds an errant second that she's still "the boss of her" - LOL!
The main concern for having a good ratio is so that your girls don't get "overworked" by the drakes. Each breed has a slightly different ratio based on libido but a good general practice is at least 3 ducks for every drake. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread is a great resource and gives you a breakdown for each breed.
But ducks are happy little splashers 99% of the time. You'll have a lot of great entertainment just watching them have a good time
When introducing the new ducks to one another you'll want to make sure they've gotten big enough that the older ones won't hurt them. I always wait until they've begun good feathering and start with two individual runs seperated by wire mesh (plastic garden netting is fine). Once they get to know each other over a week or so I'll let them mix and watch how it goes. I've never had much trouble as long as there are several ducks in each batch - otherwise, one lonely duck might be an outcast for a while... and it's a little sad to see that.
Drake don't really "fight" the way roosters will. Instead, they put their heads down and push like this:
And the pecking order within the flock will absolutely include the gals! My Cayuga girls were at the top of the heap for a long time because they've really got the build for pushing hard. You'll see all your girls and boys vying for head honcho from the earliest age... it's really cute when they're small! They push back and forth for a few seconds and I can never tell who wins but they certainly know
I have 4 drakes and they all get along beautifully and I see them hanging together sometimes (of course there are 14 females, so everyone's happy). And once the order was established all the pushing stopped. There are occasional "mountings" that are clearly a dominance check, but no one gets hurt and it only lasts a few seconds while the a primary reminds an errant second that she's still "the boss of her" - LOL!
The main concern for having a good ratio is so that your girls don't get "overworked" by the drakes. Each breed has a slightly different ratio based on libido but a good general practice is at least 3 ducks for every drake. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks by Dave Holderread is a great resource and gives you a breakdown for each breed.
But ducks are happy little splashers 99% of the time. You'll have a lot of great entertainment just watching them have a good time
When introducing the new ducks to one another you'll want to make sure they've gotten big enough that the older ones won't hurt them. I always wait until they've begun good feathering and start with two individual runs seperated by wire mesh (plastic garden netting is fine). Once they get to know each other over a week or so I'll let them mix and watch how it goes. I've never had much trouble as long as there are several ducks in each batch - otherwise, one lonely duck might be an outcast for a while... and it's a little sad to see that.
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