Young 5 mo old drakes mating too aggressively?

[Luckyducksinbama]

So, my 2 drakes this morning were going to injure the females {one imparticular)- the smaller male not so bad. So, we divided up the enclosure for the day trying to fugure out what to do tonight when cold? Do I run by a premade 'dog house' etc to separate at night the males and females?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

-What do you mean by trying to injure and is this your first time owning ducks? Many new duck owners are appalled at duck mating behavior and think that it's brutal initially. Ducks do not have hands so they use their bill to grab down on the neck holding the other duck down to ground or even hold their head under water until the deed is done. However, unless they are actually pulling feathers or causing actual bodily harm it is normal mating behavior.

What is your male to female ratio? Typically 1 male needs at least 4-5 females minimum. The exact number does vary according to the drakes personality. If you do not have enough hens for the drakes they will end up over mated in which case I would suggest building a separate drake pen/coop or running a divider. If your ratio is correct and your drakes have not actually injured your hens then allow them to mate.

 

[DukesDucks]

Drakes also don't care if it is their sister or any other female relative.

 

[Luckyducksinbama]

-What do you mean by trying to injure and is this your first time owning ducks? Many new duck owners are appalled at duck mating behavior and think that it's brutal initially. Ducks do not have hands so they use their bill to grab down on the neck holding the other duck down to ground or even hold their head under water until the deed is done. However, unless they are actually pulling feathers or causing actual bodily harm it is normal mating behavior.

What is your male to female ratio? Typically 1 male needs at least 4-5 females minimum. The exact number does vary according to the drakes personality. If you do not have enough hens for the drakes they will end up over mated in which case I would suggest building a separate drake pen/coop or running a divider. If your ratio is correct and your drakes have not actually injured your hens then allow them to mate.

Thank you! Yes we are totally new duck owners. We have only 2 males and 2 females. We figured we did not have enough females so we have 2 more baby females in the brooder - but they wont be ready to assimilate for months, One huge drake was injuring her, biting at her eyeball in the water. The other male was not so aggressive. So, we did divide them up today with a baby gate thing we had? But unless homedepot has something premade they will have to be in the coop tonight. I think we will build a drake coop. These two males are endearing bc we incubated them. But, our end game is duck eggs since we are allergic to chickens

 

[DukesDucks]

Looks like a nice set up. I found that while it was dark everyone settled down. You will need to get them separated again first thing in the morning.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Having a separate area for your drakes and females will help a lot until your little ducklings are old enough to be with the drakes. Usually around 5 months old. I commend you on being willing to do something before one of your females gets injured. Sometimes 2 drakes will tag team a female and while one is mating her the other is attacking her face.
Duck mating isn't pretty by no stretch of the imagination. We just need to know when to step in and do something before one of our females gets injured.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Can you divide the duck house into separate areas with a baby gate or something similar?
I divide my run with fencing and I have a smaller coop for the extra drakes. It works out well.

 

[Luckyducksinbama]

Drakes also don't care if it is their sister or any other female relative.

Yeah I just figured this out. We will have to rehome the drakes. At least the large aggressive one,

 

[Luckyducksinbama]

Can you divide the duck house into separate areas with a baby gate or something similar?
I divide my run with fencing and I have a smaller coop for the extra drakes. It works out well.

Thank you! Yes so hubby wuickly built a framed sliding wall that divides their cottage into his her. He put the 1/4 inch hardware cloth stiff wire stapled into the frame as the 'wall'. So they can see each other. Hubby went back out a bit ago and the big drake was trying to bite the wire? My hubby turned on the spot lights so the drake can see its the whole wall. He said he stopped biting the wire. On an up side for the girl ducks, they are SOO grateful to be separated they crawked into my kids arms for being petted?!?! Of course we hand raised them etc but we had noticed over the last few weeks the girls just followed the boys. With out the guys around they were so docille and sweet. xx

 

[raingarden]

Spousal abuse seems to be part of duck culture.

The hens have the last word though because they can choose which of the drakes they mated with is the one to actually fertilize eggs.