ya’ll!!!! He’s going to DROWN her 😳

[MyMaidenVoyageHatch]

Need advice…
My jumbo Pekin drake & my welsh Harley hen want to mate BUT…. It looks like he’s going to drown her bc of his size & weight compared to hers. I separate them unless I am outside bc I really don’t want to find her floating dead in their pool. However, when they are together, it.is.ON (lol) almost immediately . I let them do their thing but end up intervening bc he holds her under water for so long! The question is… shall I just keep them separated all the time right now OR continue letting them try & intervening if she’s under for too long?

 

[sourland]

Inadvertent drowning during mating can happen. Generally it does not happen with one on one mating - more likely with 'gang' mating. Lower the level of the swimming water or limit their access to their pool.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

I had a hen drown in the pool with the same thing going on. I agree with @sourland make the water levels lower so there is not a risk of drowning.
Maybe like about 2 1/2 inches of water.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My pekins dont even mate in water he just does it on land lol

 

[nuthatched]

How many hens to drakes?

 

[MyMaidenVoyageHatch]

How many hens to drakes?

3 of each. Was 4 hens, 3 drakes but, of course, once I accomplished that ratio, one of the 4 hens went missing

 

[MyMaidenVoyageHatch]

Thanks everyone! I lowered their pool water depth. They seemed to have settled quite a bit as of late other than….. my Pekin basically tells me, & his fellow drakes, that he will murder us in our sleep if we even THINK about touching her ( she definitely has picked him too though, cute lil duck love story going on over here LOL)

 

[citymeetscountry]

Last year in October I did unfortunately find one of our females dead in our pond. At that time it was 2 females and 1 male foraging out on that part of the property. I can only assume she drowned during mating as there were no other signs of struggle or attack. The other female was off (limping?) for about a week after, so I suspect something went down. Now that male and our only original female seem to have paired up. Keep an eye on them and if you need to separate then don’t hesitate.