yard ideas ,for keeping 2 pairs ?

[muscovy jase]

hi guys,
         as some of you may know i only have a small backyard setup,


      now i was thinking of changing my yard designs ?



     i have 1 large yard with 3 small pens off it, i have always been lucky to run my drakes together without any problems, all run together in the large yard all year round, i only use the pens for growing out ducklings


 now what im thinking is,  

 i am only going to keep my 2  girls and my new drake,

so keep a trio,


 sell off all my other birds ,

   but i have my eye on another   mammoth drake,  

 a nice bird,

 now if i was to get him i would have 2 pairs,

and the 2 drakes would fight like mad,  


 1 , would i be better to devide the yard down the middle ?


 2, run a drake in each yard alone ?  would that be cruel to run alone ? run the 2 girl together away from the drakes,?

 3 , would they need to be with there girls ?


4, 1 girl would be no good with 1 drake, she would be killed by him,

5 , run all together like i always have , and hope they would learn to get  along ?


2 strange drakes together  sound like world war 3 to me ,

better to keep just a trio, ? , but the other drake is very nice ,  

okay so what do you guys think, what is the best way to keep just 2 pairs ?


how do you manage your drakes,  ?


sorry for all the questions


regards  jase

[rollyard]

Jase, I always like to have more yards than I think I may need because somehow with poultry keeping they always seem to come in handy.  Good for seperating spare drakes, young birds, broodies etc.  I like the idea of one good sized yard which I have & currently keep my older ducks in as a group - allows space for them to move around & not overly mess the ground up & even grows grass.  Then another reasonable area for growing young birds, again is good if they can have some space.  And lastly, two or three small smaller areas/yards for seperating broodies &/or drakes.

As my young birds mature I seperate the sexes by putting the young ducks I plan on keeping in the big yard with the older ducks - the bonus of having a spacious main yard.  The young drakes are left together in the other second largest yard until selection or fighting becomes a problem, then culls go & the best two or three are kept and put into those two or three smaller yards.  When breeding time comes around a duck or two can go in with their selected drake for that period.  Space probs I find occur when the ducks start to sit & am looking for somewhere to put the breeding drakes......the reason I only keep a couple of mature drakes, & like the idea of one or two more small spare yards kept handy.

I find that I am constantly moving some older birds on & making way for those younger birds that show potential.

Hope this helps

[DrakusRufus]

muscovy jase posted:

Gidday Jase.. thanks for your post :-)

For the main I am going with what rollyard wrote, similar works for us.
Unfortunately weather and a tiny health problem is keeping me from
showing a setup for management in a small area.
As and when time permits it will be done.

Meanwhile some comment on your questions?

>
>i have 1 large yard with 3 small pens off it, i have always been lucky to run
>my drakes together without any problems, all run together in the large yard
>all year round, i only use the pens for growing out ducklings

Having seen this on a number of sites - and not just with muscovys -
I have to wonder how it works as a method, as we have found drakes
after maturity (mixing) just causes problems.
The main two being:
1. Fighting, in rearranging the "peck order".
2. Poor fertility from domination

The adage "the good guy gets the goil" applies here.
"Good" being the drake with the most "zing".
Often he can be a younger drake and thus well off any breeding line one
is trying to maintain.

And not forgetting drakes tend to adopt girlfriends, hammering just that
one lady and forsaking the rest, or worse, beating up on them.

> 1 , would i be better to devide the yard down the middle ?
>
If you do this, use small mesh 1"x1" (23mm²) and preferably "bag it"
with hessian screening.
Muscovy drakes love nothing more than spending their day preening at
each other through the wire.


> 2, run a drake in each yard alone ? 
>would that be cruel to run alone ?
>run the 2 girl together away from the drakes,?
> 3 , would they need to be with there girls ?
>
I hope I have this right here, Jase.
You are thinking there is some sort of "primal urge" which is going to
cause "fretting" and thereby dilute your breeding capability?

Drakes are animals Jase, yet they are not bandicoots (eats roots and leaves).
There is a communal thing happening in any duckyard, any poultry yard for
that matter. We call it "peck order", being technically deprived for a word
in description.
A breeder can use this communal thing to keep fertility rates high in the
sittings. Things like swapping Drakes to another pen, weeding out
"girlfriends" and  forcing a drake into a reluctant lady
(and no, not rap3[g])
.. all of these and more observed can be used to keep that "fretting" I
think you are concerned about out of the yard.


>
>4, 1 girl would be no good with 1 drake, she would be killed by him,
>
If that has or does ever happen, let us know. Never seen that.

We have seen heavy drakes drown ducks in the "mating ponds" we
have. This as the guys are so huge they cannot "find IT" and thus keep the
ducks head under water far too long.
I have not long ago built new ponds in an attempt to minimise this risk.

>5 , run all together like i always have , and hope they would learn to get  along ?
>
Not in our experience.
There is a road to disaster, more-so in a small yard.

>
>2 strange drakes together  sound like world war 3 to me ,
>
Mature drakes?
There is always some sort of "dust up" when introducing a drake to a yard, even
young stuff. What then occurs depends on the domination angle.
A submissive drake and it is all over in a flash.
You now have "Butch" and "Cecil" in the yard.
(apologies to all Cecils reading this[g])
Two domineering drakes and you got trouble. One will either be dead or of no
use in that yard, ever.

>okay so what do you guys think, what is the best way to keep just 2 pairs ?
>
Depending on what you see as an outcome for breeding - as in selection - maybe
cycle the drakes through?
Like keep a drake penned at all times and the other running with the ducks?

>
>sorry for all the questions
>
I have mine too.. jes holding back for the moment[g]

cheers

DR -- aka Beel

[Spanky]

great questions and then great answers, thank you both, this is saving my asking the same stuff!!

1. we live in cecil st 

2. when we introduced mandrake we found that he was fine in the pen and the young would huff and carry on, then we swapped them out and mandrake ignored the young one most of the time, then we let them out together and mandrake spent a large part of his day just stirring up the young one, not chasing him as such but following him - the young moving at a good pace and mandrake just waddling up the rear almost just to taunt him. they had a few dust ups but mandrake made it very clear he's boss!

[muscovy jase]

thanks for the help guys,


im thinking i will devide the yard down the middle, run a drake in each side, keep the girls seperate ,

only run them together breeding time, ?


or do you think i should get 2   more girls so they have 2 girls each ,?
and have a trio in each side ?




sound like a good idea guys ,?

[Spanky]

i would go the 2 girl each approach

[Saxascovy]

i would get another girl each for them. did you breed any unbarred females last season, even coloured ones?

off topic i know but what will you be doing with your QLD drakes?

Regards David

[muscovy jase]

i would get another girl each for them. did you breed any unbarred females last season, even coloured ones?

off topic i know but what will you be doing with your QLD drakes?

Regards David

hi david,
            last season i bred bronzes,  this season is my first time useing the qld drakes,

            i will be selling  all the ducklings and the 2 qld drakes  ,

           maria  said she is going to take them ,

[Saxascovy]

that's good they will go to a good home and put some more use

good luck with the whites.

Regards David

[muscovy jase]

that's good they will go to a good home and put some more use

good luck with the whites.

Regards David

yes im glad there going to a good home, they will do well for her,

both the drakes went real good last year at the shows,

it will be interesting to see how they go for maria at the shows she goes to,



regards  jase

[macl27]

May need to look at what may be of interest to you David down the track may be able to use some of Jases lot to put some size in yours in the future David-just a thought.Oh well you know where they are.
Jase dont really know what you can do have seen your yard and it is well laid out .Suppose it depends on how many you actually want.
Two drakes two girls will be a disaster if all together have done one drake two girls they lived in perfect harmony I suppose if you got two more girls that would even it up or else get the other drake keep him separate and look at the potential of both drakes before deciding.
You do need a separate section for the young ones.But they dont need large areas as large areas lead to more expanse of energy =more feed.
Anyway muscovy are a lazy lot dont do too much walking unless it is for food

[muscovy jase]

sounds like a plan maria,


 the older ducklings are real big,  so would be good to use for size breeding colored birds ,



regards  jase

[Saxascovy]

May need to look at what may be of interest to you David down the track may be able to use some of Jases lot to put some size in yours in the future David-just a thought.Oh well you know where they are.

sounds good they would definitely help with getting some size up

Regards David