Would my hens be happier with a drake?

[Mama Mills]

Hello all! We currently have three hens (two SAs and one Saxony). We love them to bits and plan on adding two more quackers in the spring, likely Magpies. I originally planned on getting two more hens but I’m starting to wonder if the group would be happier with one drake? I must say, now that the girls are maturing (around 7 months) they seem EAGER to mate. I also heard from a fellow duck owner that having a drake will encourage the hens to lay more? Not sure if there is any truth to that. We want to maximize the number of eggs we get but a happy and healthy flock is most important and it does seem more natural to have a male around. Should we add one drake and one hen in the spring or just stick to hens? Thanks for sharing your thoughts

 

[nuthatched]

Not necessarily, you'll need a few more hens then you have to keep the drake happy, though.

 

[Jenbirdee]

over the past ten years i’ve had mostly only girls abouta dozen and they were happy with no drake. a few occasions i tried adding a drake. the first couple of drakes were mean to some of the girls. i ended up rehoming those. earlier this year, I let one of my broody chickens hatch 2 fertile duck eggs that I got from a friend’s duck. one of my ducklings was a Drake, and he turned out to be a sweetheart. Presently he has 14 girlfriends and he’s happy as pie. my girls don’t seem any happier though. but I like the idea of having him to help me begin sharing this message watch out for the girls.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Drakes can be real jerks during mating season (which is 11 months out of 12 for some!). I think that unless you want babies they will be fine without one.