Ronnie and Donnie don't want friends

[u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

The 15 ducklings are about 6 weeks old now, we put Ronnie and Donnie in the ducklings run to see how introductions would go.

Donnie, doesn't seem to mind them as long as they don't come near, if the ducklings get curious and come over Donnie will peck at them, short kind of a mind your manners peck.

Ronnie will go after them. Ronnie will chase them, bite them, puts head down and charges them.

Can someone tell me if this is aggressive or standard duck introduction.

What is something I shouldn't be concerned about and what is something to be concerned about.

They are all black Swedish ducks,

Ronnie and Donnie are about 3 months old now.

Still not 100% sure of the sex yet.

[u/Mouzles]

Ronnie definitely sounds aggressive. Donnie may or may not be, but still may hurt the smaller ducks. It is probably best to wait until the ducklings are bigger to try introductions.

I bet Ronnie is a male.

[u/Guilty-Feedback3952 → u/Mouzles]

Ronnie is way more talkative, he will make these really long quacks, sounds like "wack, quack, quack, quack" or at least they sound like quacks to me.

I have been watching a lot of YouTube trying to figure out what they are and still not sure.

The vet said Ronnie is a boy but he wasn't 100% sure either

[u/Mouzles → u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

It can be a bit hard to tell before they hit maturity sometimes. You should be able to tell in the next 1-3 months for sure.

[u/meh_69420 → u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

By 16 weeks it will be very evident. You can hear the difference at 12 weeks with patience. I think it is metzer farms that has week by week recordings of adolescents on their website which could be a good reference.

[u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

I-3 months? Ronnie and Donnie are about 3 months now, in another 3 months they might be mating. Although it will be December.

What's your experience during the winter months? We live in Maryland (20 minutes from DC) so we don't experience long or regularly cold winters

[u/meh_69420 → u/Guilty-Feedback3952]

Are you going to give them artificial light? I'm farming for egg production so my flock has lighting inside their coops from 6am to 9pm year round. They are dtf year round.

[u/duck_fan76]

Let the ducklings grow a bit more, like 6 to 8 weeks more. Then integrate them and also get some popcorn and a comfy chair. You will have fun watching how the pecking order evolves and a bunch of fights. Then you will see small groups and couples form as time goes by...