Well, my flock has started...procreating? My alpha rooster seems disinterested, but the second in command is chasing down and getting busy with every hen he can get his beak on! That AND, it appeared last night, that only one of my ducks is a girl. And the poor thing has a tuft on her head, which is only making matters worse for her. Goodness, they are all so rough about it!
So, couple of things: For the purpose of selling my eggs at market, I'd like to candle them to make sure there are no "rooster spots" in any of them. What's the best method without having to buy anything special? Also, do I need to worry about the health and well-being of these poor ladies? The worst of it is, the second in command is supposedly a bantam (he's the biggest bantam I have - I think he's a buff light brahma bantam) and the hens he's "attacking" are much bigger, and so he's rougher on them because of the size difference. That, and it looks like my duck's neck feathers are getting a little yanked out because of her five male buddies.
Anyway, what to do when your flock matures? Any tips and/or advice really appreciated!
Eileen
Poultry Birds and the Bees
Well I don't know about anyone else but I would not want to be the female having to worry about five disgusting males. I would not allow that to continue. Often times the aggression of the male has to do with youth. Of course I suppose in your case it could be small man mentality...lol if he is a banty their should not be too much damage.
I have a serama rooster in with fifteen standard hens. He will mount them, they squat and he looks around like "Whats wrong here this isn't working. He can't even reach the small of their back...Sorry but it's just two doggone funny...Hay
I'm not quite clear on the concept of "rooster spots". Do you mean blood spots?---which have nothing to do with roosters, but are just bits of tissue from the hen's reproductive tract, and tend to be somewhat a hereditary condition....some hen's never lay eggs with them, some occasionally do, and some do all the time. I have never heard that they are more or less likely to occur if a rooster is present.
Or do you mean the sort of inconspicuous "bulls eye" on the germinal disk that means the egg has been fertilised? I think those are not likely to be noticed by the average egg consumer...I don't think I would notice them normally
With the ducks, you're either going to have to get at least 4 or 5 more females (or more), or you're going to have to rehome 4 of the drakes. If they are all mating with the duck (hen) they will probably eventually kill her, whether thru continuous mating or accidental drowning while mating.
A friend told me those blood spots meant the eggs were fertilized, and that's what you look for when you candle. Hmmm...okay, so that's just a normal thing for some hens?
The larger bantam rooster (Buffy - I thought he was a girl at first) is about 3/4 the size of most of my hens. I caught him mounting a polish, which is about 3/4 size my regular hens. So that kind of worked out for him. She didn't seem to mind so much, although I felt bad about him yanking on her afro!
The ducks are not in/by water - we take them out periodically to swim in a kiddie pool, but we've kept them in the coop and run with the chickens ever since one of them got brutalized by a snapping turtle in our pond (he's fine now).
My tiny banty rooster (he is one of my smallest birds altogether) is definitely still ruler of the roost (Buffy backs down to him, though he's twice his size). I haven't caught him mating yet, though his new thing is to fly up on our shoulders and crow. I think he's trying to dominate us to establish that we're below him on the pecking order or, if I take a shot at critiquing the little dance he does before he flies up to my shoulder, he may be flirting. He looks a bit like a bantam leghorn? Is there such a thing? I've added a pic of him from about two months ago. I'll have to take new updated pics now that all of my hens have big floppy combs!
I'll keep an eye on the ducks. If it looks like it's dangerous for Rorschach (the girl), maybe I'll rehome HER. Would that work? Or will five boys be a problem whether there's a girl or not?
Here is a better description of spots in eggs:
http://www.poultryhelp.com/bloodspots.html
We had four male Muscovies with no females. They were so bad - they tried to hump our legs when we walked by. An older, more dominant male flew in one day and that ended the nonsense.
Yes, you can have all male ducks with no problem, other than from what I've heard they will try to mate with anything....animal, vegetable, mineral.....LOL! If they are with your chickens they will probably mate with them too.