Chickens and Ducks- Why can’t we all just get along?

[Cocorona]

In need of help from those who have been there before me… last May we ordered 6 female chicks and 2 female ducks from a hatchery. It was the cutest. My DH built an incredible coop, the ladies were all thrilled, we had eggs aplenty and tons of feathered antics, life was good. A few months back we started noticing our one duck was getting rather aggressive and picking on one chicken pretty mercilessly… you guessed it we’re pretty sure ‘she’ is a ‘he.’ Evidence: (S)He has a drake feather and is larger and heavier than his svelte lady duck friend (who is never chicken aggressive btw). (S)He also mounts the other birds, biting onto their necks and ripping thee feathers of my one chicken out.

So here’s where I need advice: I’ve read some places that say a drake will not bother chickens if there is a rooster around to protect them. But to be wary if the rooster and drake were not raised together… I’ve also read that he wont bother my chickens if he has more female ducks around… so COTH fowl experts, what say you? None of my chickens turned out to secretly be a rooster so my options are… A. Add a rooster (assuming this would mean getting one from a hatchery and raising it) B. Adding more female ducks C. Both…? For now the ducks are living out of the coop in spare stall in the barn so no chicken-cide happens on our watch.

Any advice would be much appreciated… also go easy on me if there’s a way to obviously tell males from females when they’re young… this is our first foray into feathered friend and I trusted the hatchery knew what they were sending us

[4horses]

Male ducks have a very strong mating drive. My drake would even try to mate with a towel if I left it outside. I would probably add more ducks, but what happens if you get another drake? Then your ducks will be fighting. Might be easier to just permanently keep them separated.

[danceronice]

We had a bigger problem with the chickens (Wyandotte hens) beating up on a duck and two low-status chickens. They have to live separately. Duck is a female, though, and she can also be bossy with the hens she lives with.

I would NOT suggest getting a rooster. They get aggressive with people and can be a giant pain the butt. Mom carries a riding crop to deal with Brewster the Rooster. He’s about two going on three now and has huge spurs. Fights could get really ugly.

There isn’t an easy way to tell ducklings apart. It’s vent-sexing like the chicks, and most places guarantee up to 97% but some always slip through (that’s how we ended up with Brewster at my old job.) And a lot of places only do straight run on ducks. I would see if you can either find someone who sells sexed ducklings, or consider 4-H auctions (the market ducks are old enough you can see drake feathers.)

[wildlifer]

Or trade ducks with someone who wants a male (some suppliers will also do “trade-ins”). Male ducks of multiple species can get psychotic about mating, it’s not uncommon among species like mallards for the females to be drowned by multiple males who won’t let her escape. Jerks.

[Cocorona]

@4horses appreciate the insight! Mercifully my drake doesn’t seem that aggressive but he is only a year old… maybe it gets worse with time. MEN! I’m thinking it would be good to add more female ducks to give him more ladies to amuse him…

Unfortuantely- right now I have the ducks in my third horse stall… its not exactly predator proof but works as a short term solution so my poor laced dot has some time to recover… the horses find it amusing at least. I would very much like to return them to the coop/run

@danceronice Its nice to know I don’t own the only bully. I’m glad you stated that so strongly- I really do not want o get a rooster… but was considering it if it would solve the problem. Decision made, no rooster! I do like your idea of trying to find adult females, I’m a little lost where to start which was why I was thinking hatchery again.

@wildlifer welp… now I feel silly. LOL thank you! I will look into that

I’m in Illinois, Northwest of Chicago- can anyone recommend any good resources? I’m laughing at my own ignorance now, after reading into it… he most definitely in a he. Maybe I should stick with mammals

[Simkie]

Male ducks can and will kill chickens mating with them. The two species do not have comparable or compatible reproductive anatomy. (Drakes have a penis, roosters do not.)

The easiest thing here would be to get rid of your male duck and find some for sure girl ducks locally for your duckie girl.

[endlessclimb]

Agree with @Simkie . You need to get rid of the male duck. He will eventually do serious and maybe lethal damage to your hens. I’d call the supplier - if you ordered two females, they should send you a replacement.

If they aren’t fully feathered yet, you can tell by their quacks. Drakes have a breathy, hissy type quack, while a female will have a loud “QUACK QUACK” to gather her babies.

That really stinks, OP. I know how fun fowl are, and how quick you get bonded to them.

[Janet]

I have NO personal experience. But by farrier was here today and he mentioned that (some years ago) his wife bought a couple of "cute little ducklings’ (which both turned out to be male). They were turned out with the chickens and, once they were grown, picked on the chickens unmercifully. (He did not explicitly mention attempting to mate.) His only solution was to rehome the ducks.

[PeteyPie]

@Simkie

Male ducks can and will kill chickens mating with them. The two species do not have comparable or compatible reproductive anatomy. (Drakes have a penis, roosters do not.)

The easiest thing here would be to get rid of your male duck and find some for sure girl ducks locally for your duckie girl.

Okay. Side bar. What do roosters have? How does that work? I need a sex ed class in chicken reproduction.

[enjoytheride]

@PeteyPie

Okay. Side bar. What do roosters have? How does that work? I need a sex ed class in chicken reproduction.

Chickens have a multi purpose orifice that they touch together for mating. There are some theories that a lack of a penis makes a rooster less aggressive, and hens like a man that is gentle so a less aggressive rooster gets more ladies.

Male ducks have a penis and will continue to try to mate with chickens, and can kill them. Even if you have other female ducks or a rooster.

[Simkie]

@PeteyPie

Okay. Side bar. What do roosters have? How does that work? I need a sex ed class in chicken reproduction.

It’s all internal. This looks to cover it, but there’s a lot out there on the internet if you need more.

https://the-chicken-chick.com/chicke…oes-that-work/

Drakes are well endowed with external parts. Chicken hens aren’t built to handle being, uh, penetrated.

[skydy]

Who knew? :eek: I didn’t. Interesting, in an awful sort of way. I think I’d get rid of the Drake for sure.

[Simkie]

And here is article about how ducks do it. National Geographic, safe for work. Does include a picture, so probably don’t open in front of curious kids unless you want THAT conversation :lol:

https://api.nationalgeographic.com/d…al-group-study

[PeteyPie]

Really, this should be a multiple-choice question in Trivial Pursuit.

[skydy]

@Simkie

And here is article about how ducks do it. National Geographic, safe for work. Does include a picture, so probably don’t open in front of curious kids unless you want THAT conversation :lol:

https://api.nationalgeographic.com/d…al-group-study

Well for god’s sake… :eek::lol:

[B_and_B]

Male ducks can and will kill roosters due to their (the drake’s) mating drive. Sometimes not intentionally though. I lost a lovely (in type not in attitude) rooster to the Khaki Campbell drakes that I had in the same pen. They, one or multiple, drowned the rooster. How the rooster ended up in the kiddie pool, I don’t know, I do know from the lack of feathers on his neck that the drakes had ‘mated’ with him, probably repeatedly. And unlike female ducks, he couldn’t hold his breath. I still feel bad, I liked that cocky little guy.

[HungarianHippo]

I had no idea.
The things you learn on COTH… :eek::lol:

[Cocorona]

WELP this has been quite the learning post! HA- we did order more female ducks and they’ll be here in may… this time from a duck specific hatchery. Right now the birds are separated… chickens in the coop and ducks in an extra stall in the barn which isn’t my favorite long term solution. We’ll see if the extra ladies calms this Casanova down or if we will have to rehome him and keep the girls, returning everyone to the coop. What a bummer tho- he’s a funny guy and I’d hate to part with him but we’re not set up for a full duck area AND chicken area… thanks everyone for the lesson!

[Cocorona]

@B and B so sorry you lost your rooster this way! These guys are merciless…

[asb_own_me]

Well this was educational :eek::eek::eek: