that was really interesting. You must be a veterinarian are you? I'm your northern neighbor (New Brunswick) and have often lived very near your border. The youtube recommended you because I have been watching a fair bit of Jim Kovaleski. He spends half the year in Maine out in Eastport. He is a big proponent of the Common Ground fair up in Unity. My wife and our kids went down to the Common Ground fair about 6 years ago. It was one of the best weekends of my life. I'd love to again but I chose to not get my Covid shot so I think that likely precludes me from entering the states ever again. Anyways, really enjoyed your content, thanks for putting this together. Take care.
Hi Anna! I just found this video while I was searching for an answer for a similar problem. I'd love your opinion on what to do in our particular situation. Last September we brought home 2 ducklings on a whim. One died after just 2 days. We tried to find another so the one we had left wouldn't be lonely but it was the end of the season and everywhere was sold out. So we brought home 4 female chicks instead. They all bonded great! The duck even started climbing the ramp and roosting with the hens. But it turns out that he is a drake. Fast forward 7 months to yesterday Aprl 24th. I found 1 of our hens lifeless in the roost with the duck poking at her. I don't know exactly why she died but she seemed to be very healthy before this. Because it is spring time and warming up in our area, I'm afraid the duck tried to mate and caused her death. My issue now is, what do we do with the duck? We have no problem keeping the 1 duck separated from the hens but I'm worried he will get lonely. We don't have the space to have a flock of each so we can't get more ducks to keep him company. Would it be really bad for the duck to live alone? Should we rehome him to someone with an already established flock of ducks? Thank you! 😊
I got several chicks and 2 duck chicks earlier this year. And of course the ducks ended up being 1 female and 1 male. Now they are 19 weeks and my drake is ignoring everyone except 1 of my chicken hens. I wonder if maybe she is almost ready to lay eggs and is triggering him. I was planning to add some more duck hens for him to see if that might work. If not then I guess we will be having duck for dinner one night. I'd hate to do that because other than stalking my chicken he is an absolute sweetie. But I gotta put my hens safety first.
Oddly, drakes will sometimes target one hen over all of the others. My drake, Chelveston, was obsessed with one of my hens and r*ped her every chance he got. I had to separate him and his lady from the chickens. I did noticed that as mating season would wind down he would leave her along, so one day I let them join the hens and everything seemed fine. Well, later on I found the poor girl dead in the pool. Somehow he dragged her in. I don't know if he drowned her or broke her neck, it was hard to tell. I tried to give her CPR, but I didn't know what I was doing. I felt horrible. That assh*le is still living and now he's damaged his mate's head because ducks a very clumsy maters. He clamps onto the flesh on her head and fall off and pulls the skin with him. That skin now is stretched out and flopped over her eye. I have him separated from her, but she seems depressed. She is also lame with arthritis and I think he's made that worse, too. People complain about roosters, but drakes are relentless and aggressive maters, and their penises are really gross.
that was really interesting. You must be a veterinarian are you?
I'm your northern neighbor (New Brunswick) and have often lived very near your border. The youtube recommended you because I have been watching a fair bit of Jim Kovaleski. He spends half the year in Maine out in Eastport. He is a big proponent of the Common Ground fair up in Unity. My wife and our kids went down to the Common Ground fair about 6 years ago. It was one of the best weekends of my life. I'd love to again but I chose to not get my Covid shot so I think that likely precludes me from entering the states ever again.
Anyways, really enjoyed your content, thanks for putting this together. Take care.
Hi Anna! I just found this video while I was searching for an answer for a similar problem. I'd love your opinion on what to do in our particular situation.
Last September we brought home 2 ducklings on a whim. One died after just 2 days. We tried to find another so the one we had left wouldn't be lonely but it was the end of the season and everywhere was sold out. So we brought home 4 female chicks instead. They all bonded great! The duck even started climbing the ramp and roosting with the hens. But it turns out that he is a drake. Fast forward 7 months to yesterday Aprl 24th. I found 1 of our hens lifeless in the roost with the duck poking at her. I don't know exactly why she died but she seemed to be very healthy before this. Because it is spring time and warming up in our area, I'm afraid the duck tried to mate and caused her death. My issue now is, what do we do with the duck? We have no problem keeping the 1 duck separated from the hens but I'm worried he will get lonely. We don't have the space to have a flock of each so we can't get more ducks to keep him company. Would it be really bad for the duck to live alone? Should we rehome him to someone with an already established flock of ducks?
Thank you! 😊
I got several chicks and 2 duck chicks earlier this year. And of course the ducks ended up being 1 female and 1 male. Now they are 19 weeks and my drake is ignoring everyone except 1 of my chicken hens. I wonder if maybe she is almost ready to lay eggs and is triggering him. I was planning to add some more duck hens for him to see if that might work. If not then I guess we will be having duck for dinner one night. I'd hate to do that because other than stalking my chicken he is an absolute sweetie. But I gotta put my hens safety first.
Oddly, drakes will sometimes target one hen over all of the others. My drake, Chelveston, was obsessed with one of my hens and r*ped her every chance he got. I had to separate him and his lady from the chickens. I did noticed that as mating season would wind down he would leave her along, so one day I let them join the hens and everything seemed fine. Well, later on I found the poor girl dead in the pool. Somehow he dragged her in. I don't know if he drowned her or broke her neck, it was hard to tell. I tried to give her CPR, but I didn't know what I was doing. I felt horrible. That assh*le is still living and now he's damaged his mate's head because ducks a very clumsy maters. He clamps onto the flesh on her head and fall off and pulls the skin with him. That skin now is stretched out and flopped over her eye. I have him separated from her, but she seems depressed. She is also lame with arthritis and I think he's made that worse, too. People complain about roosters, but drakes are relentless and aggressive maters, and their penises are really gross.