Worries about puberty...

[Snipes]

I have 3 mallard drakes that are 12 weeks old. I have raised them from eggs and they seem happiest when we are together as a quartet. I am reading about how drakes start getting mean so you need to exert authority over them. I have also read that it's all honky dory if it's a bachelor group. These guys are mostly house ducks; they get outside time but I shuffle them inside a dog carrier at night and a lot of times they are in diapers roaming the house and nibbling at me. They don't like to be too far from me. These are my first ducks. What do you think is going to happen? I am hoping for a situation where we are 3, ahem, I mean, 4 drakes just hanging out. Do you think they will become aggressive either thinking me as a female to mate with, or a rival male to do battle with? If I do the whole dominance thing, holding them down, fake mounting them, etc, will they ever be like they are now? Lap ducks that ticklingly nibble at my fingers and groom my hair while we watch tv and nap on the couch?

 

[Snipes]

Still worried... anyone have any predictions, insights? I don't have experience enough with ducks yet to have a fantastic idea of how they are going to change behaviorally.

 

[Hattiegun]

Hi Snipes.. well Ive had my 4 calls for 6 months now .. I ended up with 2 girls and 2 boys... ONE of my boys is the nicest friendliest duck you could ever want... my other boy is ornary but not in a real bad way... he trys to nip me but being sooo small I just pick him right up and start smoochin and pettin him lol , then he nicely wants down and he shakes his tail feathers at me.... lol.... I gues youd say he is aggressive compared to the other 3 but I am able to just play with it...... so far everything is good... I spend as much time with them as I can. A couple times when he very first nipped at me all the time I did what some of the ppl here suggested and turned him over on his back for several seconds..... he DID get it..... !!