# Do ducks need water to mate?



## dsarchette (Jul 11, 2009)

Sorry for being so Quackky Stupid, but i have been told that ducks need 16" or more of water to succesfuly mate. We have rouen ducks, 5 hens and 2 drakes. We see them mating, or so it seems, all the time, but the drake just falls off like a rabbit. Is this typical of their behavior? They just have a kiddy pool, and a big rubber tub for water, that are both froze soild as of now. They are young ducks, this being their first signs of maturity other than feathering out to tell the difference in their genders. We had 13, and after being able to tell the genders, we just kept 5 hens ad 2 drakes for them to reproduce. Was just wondering if our drakes are Dry-Docked.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

No, they don't need water to mate. The drakes normally fall off after a successful mating.


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## hillbillly (Jun 28, 2009)

are the hens laying ?


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## fixer1958 (Dec 12, 2005)

I think they get a momentary head rush and pass out.

They don't need water, just makes they hens easier to catch if they are in water.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2010)

I know nothing about ducks, but seeing your title made me think, "Water? No. A nice red wine and some good cracked corn in a little out of the way spot? YES!"

I know. I'm a weirdo. Sorry!


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## dsarchette (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks to all, and no eggs as of yet. They could be hidding them, but i don't think so.


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## wintrrwolf (Sep 29, 2009)

Tonya said:


> I know nothing about ducks, but seeing your title made me think, "Water? No. A nice red wine and some good cracked corn in a little out of the way spot? YES!"
> 
> I know. I'm a weirdo. Sorry!


Ahhh yes the red wine and cracked corn works everytime!!


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## JasoninMN (Feb 24, 2006)

It depends on the type of ducks you have. If they are exhibition rouens and have the deep keel and wide set legs they probably will water to mate or you will have very low fertility in the eggs. You should be able to tell just by watching them weather or not the matings are being successful or not.


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## Kshobbit (May 14, 2002)

I like Tonya's reply the best!! My mostly Pekin with a tad bit of Rouen drake seems to manage just fine without any water but saw him take on two hens when the little pond was not frozen over. LOL


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## meddac (Nov 21, 2008)

I have big ponds and my ducks are always in the mood. I don't know about the drakes falling off though it seems to me they are practically drowning the females as they hold them completely under for sometimes 50 seconds which seems dang long when your watching the porn show! They both do a lot of flapping afterward though and I have even seen two drakes ganging up on one female. Never saw them try to do it out of the water though.


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## Dazlin (Nov 26, 2007)

I also have jumbo Pekins...it is said to be easier on these large breeds to mate in the water. In spring, the drakes get crazy and can't get enough...so they mate anywhere, and everywhere!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Tonya said:


> I know nothing about ducks, but seeing your title made me think, "Water? No. A nice red wine and some good cracked corn in a little out of the way spot? YES!"
> 
> I know. I'm a weirdo. Sorry!


Good thing I didn't have any coffee in my mouth when I read that. Too funny!

ANYway, my rouen drake (Mr Bill) seems to prefer water when he's breeding the hens, but with our little kiddie pool, I don't think he successfully made it into the docking station.

That said, just yesterday, I saw him mount one of the Welsh Harlequins. Didn't get close enough to see if he got where he was going, but he did fall off rather like a rabbit buck.

We bought a nice, deep solid plastic wading pool on close-out at Walmart this past Fall. Come Spring, we'll dig a bit of a hole (or use one of the many natural indentations around here), put in the pool, and let the ducks have a pond. 

In the meantime, now I'm wondering if I should try to build an incubator and hatch out the eggs.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

It's very unlikely your ducks will be fertile until spring. I separate my breeders in Feb at the earliest and give them 3-4 weeks with their mates (the sperm live for a couple of weeks in the hens!), then in March I start incubating. I could do it earlier, but don't need early ducklings to brood when its still cold out. Generally I'm not getting a lot of eggs until March or April anyway, esp. in the heavy breeds. The smaller egg layers get fertile earlier in my experience. The large drakes are slower in the spring and seem to need to be older before they are fertile. 

Last year I incubated one group of egg layer replacements in March and then a group of meat ducks in April. That worked well, got the egg layers laying before winter and harvested the meat in the late summer (about 12 weeks old). I might do the meat ducklings later this year, cooler weather for processing would be a plus. 

Your ducks are unlikely to go broody, so, if you want ducklings, I'd definitely get or make an incubator. Don't forget to try things like Craig's list for a used one.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

no they dont need water if there old enough they will be laying eggs ANYWHERE good luck finding them i have 4 2 males 2 females and i got them on a trade and just let them run around and i have been finding nests every where when the snow was on the ground they were making nests in the barn when there wasnt snow they made nests in the mulch pile by the house and under a bush around the house 

good luck if you wanna find there nests lol


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

To get eggs in a contained area, keep them in until about 9 am. Most ducks lay before that in the morning and it makes egg collection much easier.

For a duckie bath, I like to go to the concrete section of Lowe's or Home Depot type stores and get the contractor's tubs for concrete. They are cheap, sturdy and a great size for bathing and easy clean up. The larger ones are plenty big for a mating pool too, if that will help your ducks. Mine prefer the water, but will mate most anywhere. Larger ducks are helped with water.


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## dsarchette (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks again to everyone and your great suggestions. My SO is a duck-nut so i am sure if they don't go broody the incubator will get fired up. I myself don't really care for the ducks that much, they are very dirty, mess up every source of water, even the auto waters. They will try to get their fat hinnies in a coffee cup if it has water in it, and either mess it all up, or spill it, or both. Our ducks run with our chickens, and roost under the chickens for some reason, but they always go in the chicken house of an evening, even if they are the very last ones to do so. I think--- so they can mess up all my clean shavings i have for our "laying girls" with their wet lil selves. They will be a year old bout June, and i got them before they were colored out to tell the different sexes for my "duck-nut" girl friend----(yes for "brownie Points")----- and we had 7 drakes and 5 hens, so we sold 5 of the drakes. I have since learnt to think about the furture of well intended presents. Thanks again everyone.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

GrannyCarol said:


> To get eggs in a contained area, keep them in until about 9 am. Most ducks lay before that in the morning and it makes egg collection much easier.
> 
> For a duckie bath, I like to go to the concrete section of Lowe's or Home Depot type stores and get the contractor's tubs for concrete. They are cheap, sturdy and a great size for bathing and easy clean up. The larger ones are plenty big for a mating pool too, if that will help your ducks. Mine prefer the water, but will mate most anywhere. Larger ducks are helped with water.


I have these tubs, too! Work great. I prefer the ones WITHOUT the ribbing, because I keep mine scrubbed and clean them every couple of days. Too many of my animals use them for drinking (despite having clean water sources elsewhere) for me to leave them dirty. 

Since ducks need to keep clean to stay warm in the winter, I also offer the tubs of water at least every 2 days during the winter. I have to top off the water troughs every 2 days anyways, might as well give the duckies some water to clean up in. I'm just glad it's below freezing again so the ground will freeze and we'll stop that horrid mud. Breaking ice and getting water 2x a day is better than gross mud that won't evap in the sun or soak into the ground because the ground is frozen, IMO.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

dsarchette said:


> Thanks again to everyone and your great suggestions. My SO is a duck-nut so i am sure if they don't go broody the incubator will get fired up. I myself don't really care for the ducks that much, they are very dirty, mess up every source of water, even the auto waters. They will try to get their fat hinnies in a coffee cup if it has water in it, and either mess it all up, or spill it, or both. Our ducks run with our chickens, and roost under the chickens for some reason, but they always go in the chicken house of an evening, even if they are the very last ones to do so. I think--- so they can mess up all my clean shavings i have for our "laying girls" with their wet lil selves. They will be a year old bout June, and i got them before they were colored out to tell the different sexes for my "duck-nut" girl friend----(yes for "brownie Points")----- and we had 7 drakes and 5 hens, so we sold 5 of the drakes. I have since learnt to think about the furture of well intended presents. Thanks again everyone.


My daughter and son-in-law presented me with 6 ducklings for my birthday last March. I was so angry (though, to their credit, they DID check with Nick first, and HE was the one who gave the thumbs-up). 

Icky, nasty, noisy, dirty, messy, stinky little ducklings. Oh, how I resented their mess every morning when I would come down to the brooders. Oh, how they irritated me no end!

And then... 

We set up a pool for them outside. They splashed, they played, they dove for leaves I tossed in the water... 

I was totally hooked!

Yeah, they're messy, but by golly, they're the hardiest animals I've ever had. They entertain me with their antics, and they give me eggs besides!

When the weather is so cold and crummy like it is right now, my ducks are still out there, looking for fun and enjoying their lives. 

They make me smile when I am sure I've lost my smile.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Ducks are generally hilarious. I find them worth the smell and the mess because they are so darn cute and funny. AND I like the eggs and the meat and to wade through my duckies while they follow me around hoping for an extra dinner or something. They are also nosey.


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## Kshobbit (May 14, 2002)

dsarchette,
I loved the comment about a duck trying to stuff it's behind into a coffee cup.:hysterical:
I tried to not have ducks, I really did try, but there is a foursome out in the yard now. They make me smile, so I guess it is worth having to clean out all the chicken waterers every day, and having to move the goat trough further from the fence to keep it clean.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

Our Rouens did OK without any water. Had one hatch out like 18 which we grabbed and put in the brooder with the chicks we had just ordered in.
Later in the summer we bought a cheapie plastic pool for them to splash in.


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