2 female Muscovy ducks behaviour

[MandaF]

Hi everyone,
At our house we have had many ducks and hens over the years but for the past 12 months have only had one Muscovy and one hen. Both female. Sadly our hen passed away so we have just homed another Muscovy. Our original one (Fern) is around 3 years old but is still going strong. The new one is 4 months old so there's a big age difference.
When we introduced them Fern was good at first but after a few hours she decided to chase the new duck around everywhere. I know she's not being aggressive because we've had her a long time and have seen her be aggressive. She is just wiping her bill on the other duck's feathers, like she would her own. She's not grabbing on to her feathers or anything, she's just becoming really obsessive with the wiping and I don't want the new duck to get stressed. She's already flown the coop to get away from her. Sometimes she doesn't run away and just let's her wipe her bill on her but I guess she gets tired of it and wants to be left alone. Do you think she is just trying to be the mother duck and thinks she needs to groom her? I can't find any info on this online.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did you introduce through fencing first? that is the best way to make introductions, Fren needs to meet the new duck without feeling like she has to protect her surroundings. The new duck needs to feel a part of her new surroundings without being stressed. Set them up side by side and let them get to know each other without there being any pecking or chasing going on. If you let them have free range that may be the time to let them be together with supervision But you need to be careful if Fren gets too aggressive with her chasing your new one may fly off. So trimming one wing might be a good idea. It's always best with any poultry to introduce newbies to resident ducks through fencing. I set a large dog crate depending on how many I am introducing in my coop and the newbies get to sleep in it for a week or so till everyone gets to know each other better [this is for nighttime]

 

[getaclue]

I agree with Miss Lydia, and use this same method for introductions.