What to do with Drakes

[sandcat]

Quote:
You and me both!!! I would be a terrible farmer too, I love the idea of raising animals to eat but have never done it and not sure if i could, Im still deciding but I think if push came to shove......id ball my eyes out and end up with a million ducks rather than kill them.

 

[DanceswLabs]

I have decided that I am going to try keeping a bachelor pad for the boys. I have another question for those who do this: can the boys' pen be located next to the girls or is that a problem? I would like them to be close together (just easier to take care of everyone), but I don't want proximity to be a problem.

 

[Miss Lydia]

might be a problem if their that close. Mine were fighting through the fence because of the girls so if their in the same fence and can see the girls might get a little rowdy. But then again Runners might be different.

 

[sourland]

Proximity to and visual contact with the females will probably cause problems.

 

[duckluck]

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Yep, the suburban area thing absolutely helps to sell drakes. That and the fact that they make for more ornamental ducks for people strictly looking for ducks to put in their backyard ponds, because of their brighter colors. I have had people specifically ask me for just drakes for just this reason. When looking for brighter and flashier colors, in most of the varieties of Calls the drakes are the way to go. Plus there are just some people who don't want the eggs and don't want to be worrying about hens wandering off somewhere to lay.

 

[duckluck]

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There is nothing wrong with my comment. People breed farm animals for eggs end meat. Ducks are farm animals.

If you are trying to tell next owners what to do or not to do with your ducks or/and you not want to have your ducks eaten by future owner DO NOT BREED THEM.

Breeding farm animals and then switching responsibility to keep them as pets to somebody else is selfish and irrresponsible.

That's why responsible pet owners neuter their cats and dogs so they will not breed creating unwanted animals.

That's your opinion pascopol and it is right for you, but that does not mean that others' opinions are wrongs. It is not wrong for some of us to consider our animals as beloved pets if we are willing to provide loving homes and conditions for them. Breeders of cats and dogs are still looking for loving homes for their 'pet' quality animals (they are not seeking out homes to eat them). There is absolutely no reason to be discourteous to those who's hearts strive to do no harm to other living things. Just as it is wrong for us to negatively judge people like you who who seek to responsibly breed animals for meat and eggs.

I agree! I have turned away buyers on Calls if I felt they were not the sort of home I wanted to sell to. Why on earth anyone would want to buy something as small (and expensive) as a Call to eat is beyond me, but there are people who would and there are all kinds out there. People have to remember to that if no one strived to breed purebred animals of any kind, there wouldn't be any. I am all for spaying and neutering, but if *someone* didn't breed purebreds, all we would have would be mixed breeds because the animals aren't that picky!

And whether or not ducks are farm animals would depend on who's picking up the tab, IMO. I agree too with the person who spoke of there being no difference as far as domestication goes. If someone wants to spend the time, money, and effort into a pet duck that other people do with a dog or cat, that's their business. Certainly with the proper care, ducks can live as long as some of the larger breeds of dogs...I have heard of a pet Call that lasted 12 years. No animals were domesticated until someone made them be.

 

[L0rraine]

Miss Lydia is correct. Sharing a fence line is a bad idea because there will be a lot of activity through the fence line that could be potentially harmful to the ducks. My bachelor pad is across the yard. However, I have had them separated by only a chicken pen, which shared fence lines in between two duck pens, and they were fine (a bit nosier than they might have been a little further away though).

p.s., I have mostly Runners, a Magpie and Magpie cross. I also had two little bantam drakes in with the big ones last year and they ALL did fine together (and then I'm afraid we had a run in with an unknown predator(s) and lost the two little ones).

 

[DanceswLabs]

Thanks for all the good information. I will plan on a drake pen not too close to the girls. I plan to get more girls in the spring too. As much fun as I had hatching the babies, this time I will order girls so I won't have to worry about too many boys. If I ever get show quality ducks, I will think about hatching eggs again. Who knew ducks were so much fun!?!?!

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

I must have the weirdest drakes ever. Other than the very first squabble or two (pecking order establishment) they NEVER fight. And we have two drakes, and two hens. For a while it was only my two drakes, and my one Pekin hen. I never saw them over breeding her, and I absolutely never see them fight. They all get along famously.

I don't know if perhaps it was because my older drake was a rescue and spent his first season as an only duck. Maybe he was just happy to have buddies. Who knows? But we've had him with the newcomers since march and they all

each other. The girls rule the roost around here.

 

[Rouen-d in Sacto]

Quoten Drakes...but I plan on adding a few more. I'm sure there are others out there like me, and I'm sure you can find good homes for your boys.

the wife & I have two 3-month-old Rouens we rescued. These are our 1st no-flight ducks, so we're learning their behaviors. Do yours talk as if they are attached at the face? I'll see them standing so close together that it's like they are scolding one another or telling a secret. As soon as they se me, the volume goes up but the alpha will keep his face right near his brother's. Is this normal?