Agressive drake?

[xmissyxteex]

Hiya, I've tried to have a look and see if others have asked but I couldn't find a thread quick enough (apologies if it's a popular question) my male Cayuga has recently started chasing my mum and really pecking at her feet and ankles hard to the point where he broke the skin recently, the first time i saw him do it I thought it was hilarious as I'd never seen him act like that but it's turned from a once in a while to every single time he sees her thing, she comes and feeds them and often cleans them when we are at work but for some reason he's just of late taken a disliking to her? He doesn't even try to hide it either when she turns around to face him he will continie, but he doesn't do it to me or ever even tried, infact very often after he's been nasty to her he wonders over to me and gently nibbles as normal as though nothing has happened, its like a switch flipped, he's with two females and seems to have paired with the louder one, this is his first season, they are around 8-9 months old now (hatched last july) but I was just wondering if this is common? And how can it be sorted, or if it can? Many thanks xx

 

[ruthhope]

Poor Mum! It's spring drake hormone time and he has decided you mum is a rival. I have a drake that was almost psychotic in his attacks on me last year. This year he has chilled out. So hopefully things can change for your boy too.

Is your Mum able to pick the drake up? I found the most effective way of changing the behaviour was time out. I keep a dog crate in the back garden and when he came at me, I would turn round, pick him up and put him in the dog crate. He only needed 5 minutes in there before coming out sheepish. On the odd occasion he came out fighting, he was put back in there for 10 minutes.

I admit, i have thrown that boy in the kiddie wading pool -- which didn't stop his attack -- on an occasion when the pool was closer than the dog crate. While I got some satisfaction, he hates water, it didn't stop his behaviour. I have also turned the hose on him when he has started attacking me while I was cleaning and refilling the kiddie pool. Again it didnt stop his sttack for long. The dog crate was ths most effective. I haven't used the dogcrate this year!

If your Mum cannot pick up your drake, then all she can do is carry a broom to hold him off or keep him away from her.

It will settle down later in the year when the hormone surge wanes.

Good luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very normal behavior . No telling why he has chosen your mom for his aggression but he is young and feeling his oats. Tell her to keep boots or closed in shoes on when coming around him and also to carry a broom or long stick to discourage him for getting close. [she isn't hitting him with these but using them to keep him away.]
My Drake when he starts with me gets tossed into the pool and that usually stops his behavior for a while. Opie usually gets many bathes a day thanks to me lol

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

This is normal
I have 5 drakes ( 4 now one just went to a new home ) but out of 5 only 2 will do this
The two I gave the most attention to as babies. They were held all the time
I wonder if he bonded with her when little ?
I have tried everything from time out and pinning them down I found they would come back harder the more I tried those so I started to just pick them up and cuddle
That usually stops it
Last year I wore rubber boots in the heat of the day to avoid my toes getting injured
I also realized holding my blue pool noodle I use to guide them into bed with would work. I would just pull it out and away they went it was a bit big to carry while holding waters and feed so I cut it down shorter and it still worked
I haven’t had to guide them for over a year but they don’t forget things
Never touched them with it yet they run away from it …. no not bed time in daylight

 

[xmissyxteex]

Thank you so much for your replies, I showed her today and she picked him up every single time he did it, which to start with seemed to infuriate him harder lol but as they day went on he just gave up as I guess he knew what would happen lol, though I think she likes the idea of the pool noodle too, we will see how it goes, thank you again x