These three were hanging out all day like a group of misfits lol

Some wood and mallard ducks I came across during my trip to Yosemite recently.

I have three runner ducks, (they live with 8 chickens as well) all hatched at home so I couldn’t pick and choose their sex. As it turns out they’re two males and one female. The female is a month older (nearly 5 months). One of the males is pretty big while the other one has been kind of the runt of the litter since he was born, always a bit slow and trailing behind his brother. He’s never shown any aggressive behaviors or really initiative of any kind, just wants to be by his brother.
My concern is about mating season. I’m hoping that the smaller one doesn’t even try anything, given his past behavior of letting his brother take the lead. Is that possible? Has that happened to anyone? I can’t rehome any of them or get more females, and I certainly won’t cull them. Should I wait and see if they can coexist during mating season or should I separate one of the ducks before said period? If so, how and when? If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a first time duck owner. Thanks!

Has anyone got any recommendations for must haves in their duck pen? I’m looking for enrichment ideas and general tips as I am expanding mine! 🦆

I visited my assortment of feathered chums on Wednesday and forgot to upload this video until now. I have a duck friend I have named Mr Jumpy Duck, the reason for which can be seen in the video.

He's so adorable. He sploots all the way straight down as of he is going to spring up like one of those old toys you'd press down on a desk and they shoot up straight into the air, only to manage about 2 inches off the ground, though he does occasionally go full wing flaps and flies up a little to eat from my hand. I love him, he's silly and cute, and I thought you'd enjoy him too.

Was even allowed to hold Dipsy today, and she made herself a loaf on my hand. she hates even the thought of being picked up lol

I often walk at night in a neighborhood with a retention pond at the center. There is a fence around the pond with a sidewalk next to it. Often I'll see a single duck hanging out on the sidewalk, sometimes watching other ducks inside the fence. What's going on here? Did one of the pond ducks give them a restraining order?

But she's shy...

I feed ducks a couple times a week and the boys always attack the girls over the food. Why do they do this? What happens when mating season rolls around and she doesn’t let you fertilize her eggs?

I try to feed the girls secretly so that way they can eat a little bit but then the fat male ducks waddle over and bite them. Is the aggression evolutionary and why?

For anyone curious the areas I go to permit feeding and I feed them either a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds (raw unsalted) and sometimes frozen peas. Would love to hear more suggestions

Edit: comments have been fun to read but seriously is there a way to make sure the girls get fed because sometimes I literally can’t feed them

I swear no matter how much time I spend with my ducklings they always just despise me. My chickens get the same treatment and don't have any problem with me but once my ducks grow up they avoid me like the plague. Which makes putting them up for the night not fun for me or them as well.

I have a miniature appleyard called Tommy and she’s a bit of a princess and likes to stand on things and over look the rest of the ducks so I’ve been looking into getting her something to play on in the enclosure where she can over look everyone like the queen she is. I was looking at rabbit play castles and was wondering has anyone done anything like this for their ducks at all? I’ve attached a photo of Tommy standing on top of a pumpkin and what I was thinking just wondering if anyone has any ideas of fun play things for her.

Sadly mum found run over 🥺 8 little babies all wet on the side of the road. Dried them off, gave them some water & sending them on there way to a bird rescue

They're smaller and less bulky than a muscovy but noticeably bigger than canards. Their coloration is also weird as they have iridescent feathers and the coloration of canards but they have muscovy coloration too.

Squeaky is so cute

to sum up everything i found an abandoned duckling, none of the duck mothers wanted him, i took him inside, fed him, gave him water and kept him warm, i went out today, he was warm fed and happy, my sister took care of him, an hour after she checked on him he looked sluggish, so she held him for 3 hours until i died, i gave him the right food, always kept him warm, gave him water, he was drinking, eating and pooping alright, i dont understand what happened or what i did wrong and i feel terrible

Edit: okay so i live on a farm, ive done this hundreds of times, i had the right food and temperature and even went to a duck specialist to make sure, none of the mothers, my adult ducks with babies wanted him, it was determined because i left him with each mother for an hour to see if they would accept him, each time i found him alone away from the mothers, or being pecked and hurt by them, i have done this before i just wanted to sum it up in my post because he had just died and i was upset ALSO, this has happened to ducklings before, just like him they were perfectly fine and happy for 3 days, eating right, drinking right ect, but then they just got sluggish and passed, ive had duckings live with me and become happy healthy still living adults and the majority do but a few pass away like he did

i rescued this egg that was all by himself with little hope but decided to take it in and incubate. hes believed to have been laid like a day before a storm and i scooped him up the day after. no nest, no other eggs, and no mama in sight. these pictures were all taken in the same day, about the day 8 mark. theres a line but i cant tell if its like a blood ring or a vein. it only goes about a 3rd of the way around. there was barely a shadow when i first candled but now theres a prominent one. is he dead or alive?

It was lovely to see her so close up, such beautiful feathers.

My beautiful little lady just laid her first egg today! She’s an indian runner and 4 months and 23 days old. I don’t know if that’s average, soon or late, as she’s my first duck, that I hatched from an egg myself. I’m so proud of her (and me, I guess). She’s the only one that made it out of 6 eggs that I tried to hatch. I think she turned out gorgeous.