5 Month Old Drake Attacking 5 Week Ducklings

Ollie is a Mallard Drake we bought with a female, Mimic. We also bought (later) 2 Welsh Harlequin female ducks which are now 5 weeks old and almost fully feathered. Mimic tries to make friends but the WH are having no parts of it. The bigger concern in that Ollie tried attacking the WH if we let them together. We are keeping them separated by a fence but we are wondering if Ollie will ever accept the younger girls. Please let me know what to do. Poor Mimic is being fenced away from Ollie but in sight so we hope she bonds with the WH. They, on the other hand, have taken over Ollie's orchard and show no signs of being friends. Please let me know how to proceed.

Thanks,

Terri

Terri, you are doing everything the best that can be done right now, as far as I can see.

I just did think that maybe you can work in a few treat parties. That's where Ollie on his side, and everyone else on their side, but next to each other, all get treats at the same time. So they can have positive feelings around each other.

It is sad, but not unusual for adult ducks to be aggressive toward juveniles. Wait to reintroduce when the WH are about as big as he is. And monitor. Anything more than chasing, a little feather pulling or shoving and call a time out again.

Amiga said:

I just did think that maybe you can work in a few treat parties. That's where Ollie on his side, and everyone else on their side, but next to each other, all get treats at the same time. So they can have positive feelings around each other.

It is sad, but not unusual for adult ducks to be aggressive toward juveniles. Wait to reintroduce when the WH are about as big as he is. And monitor. Anything more than chasing, a little feather pulling or shoving and call a time out again.

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Amiga, Thank you so much for replying!!!

My ducks have never taken any treats at all. No peas, greens, nothing.

Ollie tries to grab the ducklings through the fence bars. Right now they are the same size he is.

The Mallards learn more slowly than the WH. We planned to give them a week and see if any improvements happen in his behavior.

The WH ignore Mimic which obviously hurts her feelings. It's sad to watch her try to make friends with them all the time.

Is it possible that we will never have one happy family? I can't bear to think about giving any of them up.

Just take it a day at a time. Ducks adjust.

Amiga said:

Just take it a day at a time. Ducks adjust.

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I really hope so. I am shocked at the WH ducklings and how aggressive they are. I can understand the drake but not two female ducklings, no matter how huge they are. I am almost rooting for the Mallards.

I would give it much, much more time than a week. It can take some ducks longer than others and since your WH are still young it may take even longer. I find teenage ducks to be kinda a pain in general and they have teenage attitudes. When introducing new flock mates I let them see each other through a fence for almost a week and then once I could tell they would be okay they free ranged together during the day. My ducks were teenagers and were very mean to the drake we got. They beat him up all the time and he was bigger than them. After 3 weeks they chilled and I was able to lock them up at night together.

needlessjunk said:

I would give it much, much more time than a week. It can take some ducks longer than others and since your WH are still young it may take even longer. I find teenage ducks to be kinda a pain in general and they have teenage attitudes. When introducing new flock mates I let them see each other through a fence for almost a week and then once I could tell they would be okay they free ranged together during the day. My ducks were teenagers and were very mean to the drake we got. They beat him up all the time and he was bigger than them. After 3 weeks they chilled and I was able to lock them up at night together.

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Needlessjunk, Thanks for the post. I had no idea this nasty behavior from the WH was normal. We have a lot of property but I would not feel comfortable with letting the drake and WH within grabbing distance of each other yet. He snakes his head and pulls feathers. The WH snake their heads and hiss. Sheesh. It's a regular soap opera.

It's been 2 weeks. Ollie continues to constantly lunge at the ducklings who are now 7 weeks old through the bars of the fence. We have their pools next to each other on either side of the fence. When Ollie can, he grabs feathers from the lings. So I am wondering, is it possible he will NEVER be friends with them? If that is the case, we have to build another duck house before Winter arrives.

terris said:

It's been 2 weeks. Ollie continues to constantly lunge at the ducklings who are now 7 weeks old through the bars of the fence. We have their pools next to each other on either side of the fence. When Ollie can, he grabs feathers from the lings. So I am wondering, is it possible he will NEVER be friends with them? If that is the case, we have to build another duck house before Winter arrives.

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They are still too little. The bigger the size difference the more problems you can expect. When they are full sized (10+ weeks) and can get away then try to SLOWLY integrate them. There will be some pulling feathers but you will have to watch them to see how bad it is and only step in when someone is actually getting hurt.

needlessjunk, Thanks for the reply. The only size difference is that the ducklings are already twice his size. They are welsh harlequins and Ollie is a mallard. Is it possible he will NEVER come around?