What if I got Quacker a friend

duckncover

Duck Obsessed
15 Years
Jan 17, 2009
1,158
220
366
North Eastern PA
Quacker is my imprinted house duck. She has never seen another duck before. But if I can clear it with my parents I'd like to get her a friend. I have many questions.

She doesn't like to be away from me. Will a friend help make her more independent?

Will she accept another duck?

Can I have 1 male and 1 female duck if I keep them apart during mating season?

Will an imprinted duck breed and sit on eggs?

Can her mate be imprinted too or should he not be?

She is a muscovy but I'd like to get a mallard derived breed of drake. I know they can over breed but I will be watching them closely and they will be inside 90% of the time. Don't worry she gets a lot of outdoor enrichment and I spent a lot of them with her.

Hope to hear back from you.
 
I'm not good with the whole house duck thing but Muscovies are very broody, they'll try to hatch a tennis ball if you let them. Again, don't know how the house duck scenario plays into their instinctive behaviors. Ducks mate all the time. Yes, there's definetely more aggressive seasons for it but they mate all the time. So you'd have to separate them all the time or let them be together and mate all the time which if you do the indoor diaper thing, that just sounds messy and sexually frustrating for the ducks, possibly. If all you want is eggs for eating, then you don't need a male for that.

And mallard's are pretty small, they might have issues mating a muscovy. Muscovies are designed for a really big male. The male muscovies are twice as big as the females which is not like other duck breeds.

Also, the offspring of a mallard breed and a muscovy will likely be sterile and may not lay any eggs at all much less fertile ones. So if you're planning on selling the ducklings, people don't generally appreciate sterile unless they are just meat animals.

My two cents! Best of luck whatever you decide!
 
I'm not good with the whole house duck thing but Muscovies are very broody, they'll try to hatch a tennis ball if you let them. Again, don't know how the house duck scenario plays into their instinctive behaviors. Ducks mate all the time. Yes, there's definetely more aggressive seasons for it but they mate all the time. So you'd have to separate them all the time or let them be together and mate all the time which if you do the indoor diaper thing, that just sounds messy and sexually frustrating for the ducks, possibly. If all you want is eggs for eating, then you don't need a male for that.

And mallard's are pretty small, they might have issues mating a muscovy. Muscovies are designed for a really big male. The male muscovies are twice as big as the females which is not like other duck breeds.

Also, the offspring of a mallard breed and a muscovy will likely be sterile and may not lay any eggs at all much less fertile ones. So if you're planning on selling the ducklings, people don't generally appreciate sterile unless they are just meat animals.

My two cents! Best of luck whatever you decide!
goodpost.gif
 
What if I let her hatch out her own friend once she goes broody? Can I just swap fertile eggs with her infertile ones?
Yep and that would be a good way for her to accept a friend too. Course being a Scovy she'd need more than a few eggs to sit so you'd have to plan on more ducks to care for or finding good homes for the ones you can't keep.
 

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