Besides the chickens I'm getting, I also have been wanting runner ducks, sebastopol geese and saxony geese. I had planned to get male/female pairs of the ducks and geese. For the chickens I'm getting all females.
I have a chance to pick up runner ducks next week and was wondering if maybe I didn't research the male/female thing enough. Male ducks and geese are not real different from the females, right? Not like roosters are so much different from hens?
I thought I might like to someday breed the ducks and geese (hatch out the eggs) and since I'm getting the ducks and geese from individual breeders with supposedly show quality or possible show quality poultry, it seemed like I should just go ahead and get the male/female pairs. But I may never do the breeding thing and am much more interested in docile nice friendly poultry. Am I correct in thinking a male runner duck will not be a pain in the behind? (At least any more so than a female.)
Quickie duck question
Males are no different than females except they don't quack they kind of grumble.
I got mine this spring and both the male and his three hens all have basically the same temperament.
He will act a little defensive of his hens if my dog gets to close he will drop his head and run at the dog.
But he doe's not like my sons male mallard and they fight if we let them out together so the males will fight.
I was told on another site that a drake can handle 4 hens easily.
Do you think the male duck will get along okay with the male goose? I was initially just wanting the male/female runner duck and the male/female sebastopol geese but then I saw saxony geese so decided I needed a pair of them as well. :) So that would be 2 male geese and 1 male duck. They will have a pretty large fenced area to free range in. At least an acre and most of it is woodlands so lots to explore for them. A small pond and then a lawn (which is our drain field).
I'm hoping the chickens can be in that area as well and that everyone can coexist happily and peacefully. If not, then the chickens will have their coop area and a fairly large run. But it would be nicer if they could have the run of the woods too.
Does anyone here have male geese and male ducks? How do they get along?
I had ducks and geese in the back yard and they got along fine. Of course the gander left by the age of two. He didn't bother the drake, he bothered us!