The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: reedos on January 18, 2012, 04:44:46 pm
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Do they fight the way cockerals do. I've got the chance of getting some more ducks (2 ducks and 2 drakes) already have one duck and one drake - are they likely to fight?
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Probably more bullying than actual fighting, which is not nice and always makes me want to take the loser's side ::)
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i would not bring another male into the mix, not in a million years!! sorry for being blunt
and i would suggest getting at least another couple of girls on top making a ratio of 5 to one as drakes are very sexual creatures and can potentially over do it with the females, who can in extreme circumstances die
i have 3 females and one male currently running together, and a separate pen housing two drakes, they were running all together all 3, but fights started happening more and more often and had i not made the decision to separate i would have lost all 3 males. (i have a ratio of three female to one male and i recommended more - i am getting more this spring, but i had a failed hatch last year hence my numbers are down)
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Blunt is good !
I've got Cayugas and am having difficulty finding anymore, on Preloved not too far away somebody has 2 ducks and 2 drakes - I've asked whether they'll split them and they won't which is why I was asking if drakes fight.
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do you have the ability to "deal with" the spare drakes, or know someone who may be able to help??
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Yes, the two ducks you need, the two drakes you don't - and neither does anyone else. Basically, they need to go in the freezer.
Cameron is right, drakes bully and sometimes kill ducks and even if they don't kill them, they make their lives a misery. One drake per 5 ducks is a minimum no. of ducks.
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I agree. You don't need the drakes. They need to either go in the pot or look elsewhere. The seller won't split as he knows that he most likely won't be able to get rid of the drakes on their own.
As said, aim for a minimum ratio of 1 drake to 5 ducks as the boys do like their bit of 'fun'!
:&>
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I fully agree, even 2 boys for 8 girls was one too many. You can only watch that for a short time before it's obvious - the boys got on alright but the girls suffered under the constant "attention" the team (yes, you are reading right!) gave them. Not fair on the girls! After they drowned my favourite last year when I was out it was downtime for one. Never again will I have more than 1 :&>
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I agree with the above. 1:1 ratio is far, far too much. Drakes don't fight much in the way that cocks do but they can be very amorous to say the least. Last year mine were 1:7 and my drake still decided he had a favourite and made her life a pain (although she was a bit of a tease!). He is also a Cayuga and is generally a lovely drake and very gentle and protective over his girls. Despite the generally placid nature of Cayuga 3;3 will not go well.
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Thankyou everybody - I declined the offer of the other ducks based on the overwhelming concensus here. Still looking for Cayuga girls ;)
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I am going to disagree with everyone else here but in the case of Muscovies. I've got three boys and five girls and all get on well. They are in alot of space and have easy access to a stream. They are all able to fly and the girls don't put up with any nonsense from the boys. The boys occasionally have a scrap but it's brief as they are all far too lazy to go on for long. Two of the girls are presently sitting on eggs and ducklings and the three girls left have had no bullying from the boys. However muscovies are a strange sort of duck in the first place and don't like to conform to what other ducks do ;)
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I agree with that, Muscovies are a very gentle (American?) breed of duck. Our experiences shared in this post apply to European ducks! All seem to have very randy males! :&>