We are fairly experienced with 'backyard chickens' (we have 50 of several breeds), but are just starting out with ducks. A friend gave us a male and 2 females (so far of unknown breed...does anyone know any good websites for identifying duck breeds?). We are really enjoying them as they muck around the yard, dibbling in mud-puddles, eating slugs (yeah!!!) laying eggs in the oddest places, dealing good-naturedly with our roosters, and swimming in the neighbour's pond! Another friend has 1 male and 2 females of a different breed (again, we don't know what!) that they want to give to us. Question: can we add this other little flock without having the males fighting it out? (this is why our friends are giving them away...they have 2 males who fight all the time!). We figure it will be O.K., as it is our experience with chickens that flocks that grew up separately will remain separate even when sharing territory later with other flocks. Is there a consensus out there in duck-land? Will the 2 males fight it out for control of all the females?
Pictures of duck breeds can be found at: www.feathersite.com
You have probably sorted this out for yourself by now, you can only try them out & see what happens, it really depends what breed they are as some are more aggressive than others, they may fight for a day or two regardless, but if they are going to settle down they should by the second day, introducing them during winter will help.
By Y2Keggz on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - 06:24 pm:
By Anonymous on Wednesday, July 28, 1999 - 04:29 am: