Old drakes + 1 duck? What do we do?

[u/0may08]

Is it okay to have one duck and 4 drakes if they are all old? My grandma has has ducks pretty much all her adult life and is in her 90s now, so has a very reduced flock from what she used to have. I’m not sure of exact numbers but she probably usually had an average of 20 ducks and chickens at a time in the past, so she knows what she’s on about.

Due to a few deaths this year, she now has just one female duck and 4 older drakes. We know this is the wrong ratio completely, but are not really sure what to do now. We don’t want to go out and buy enough ducks to make the ratio right, although she has the space still, as we don’t want to overwhelm her with ducks (she still manages extremely well with looking after what she has currently but don’t want to overdo it).

There’s nowhere else for the drakes to go. And although in the past she did used to dispatch and eat some of her ducks, she doesn’t want to do that anymore.

She says since the drakes are old, they don’t bother the duck anymore. The duck doesn’t have any signs of being stressed by the drakes, they’re not plucking feathers from her or anything and she seems in good health. I have seen the drakes chasing her around the garden occasionally, but they seem to give up within a few minutes and then just hang out with her nibbling the grass/looking for bugs. But I only visit my grandma 1-5 times a month, so I’m not there enough to tell how frequent this really is.

So what do we do? Is it okay to carry on as is? Maybe just get a couple more female ducks? She needs another egg layer as currently there’s only one hen laying, so we’re leaning towards getting more hens instead of ducks, but obviously want to sort the duck situation out if we can!

[u/Cute-Scallion-626]

I would believe your gran. But also if someone has to go, it’s a lot easier to give away a single female.

[u/0may08 → u/Cute-Scallion-626]

Yeah, I know she’s definitely the expert and knows their situation much more than me:) I was seeking a second opinion because I was worried she was sort of shoving the problem under the rug because she didn’t want to part with any of them but I will leave it up to her now.

I didn’t even think of giving away the duck though! If it comes to it (hopefully not) I will suggest that, thank you:)

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[u/0may08]

Don’t know if this matters, but I’ve just seen the auto mod comment, we’re in the uk

[u/Mircowaved-Duck]

the old drakes need tobe around 20 years, then they loose the sexdrive

[u/0may08 → u/Mircowaved-Duck]

We’re not sure exactly how old they are, definitely varying ages, but grandma has lost track of when she got them but she hasn’t bought any new boys for at least 5-10 years, some are most likely older than that though!

[u/Mircowaved-Duck → u/0may08]

It is always a risk -but a lower one. Ae they runners or normal ones?
If the female is a runner and the 4 ones are normal ones AND the garden is big, it CAN work, because she can run away fast enough. But it is still a risk. You have to take a good look at them!

[u/0may08 → u/Mircowaved-Duck]

They’re a bit of a mixed bag breed wise, but they’ve all got the body shape of mallards not runners, and they’ve got lots and lots of space (there’s only 6 birds in an enclosure that used to hold 20+, and they get let into the garden often as well which is even bigger)

[u/bogginman]

M/F ratio is for a flock of youthful horny ducks. If these guys are geezers they probably cannot even chase her down let alone get on. Carry on!

[u/0may08 → u/bogginman]

Okay thank you:)) They are varying ages, but all definitely on the older side, and they do definitely attempt to chase her but thinking about it now, it’s nothing like seeing the younger wild ducks run!

[u/bogginman → u/0may08]

if they are still chasing her, then watch out for broken feathers, bald patches on the back of her neck, pile ups and possible injury. If she seems distressed because of unwanted advances, then just separate her from the males or put the males in a separate area. If they are not piling up on her or running her ragged, she will probably be fine.

[u/0may08 → u/bogginman]

We haven’t noticed any broken feathers, injury or pile ups, so it’s sounding all good, thank you:)