Drake picking on hens

[lilnuggets]

I have a drake that seems to be picking on my hens lately and I am not quite sure how to stop or deter it. Wondering if anyone has experienced this and how you corrected the drakes behavior.

A little background: I have 1 rooster, 4 hens and 2 ducks (1 drake). They all share a run and shared the duck house as a duck house/chicken coop up until a few days ago when we finally got the chicken coop finished. The drake has been picking on the hens for about a month but wasn't anything too bad mostly just chasing them around the run. Last week he actually started pecking at their feathers to the point where they are almost all the way naked! I have been using Blue-Kote on the hens and it seems to be slowing down the pecking some but not all the way. Not really sure what else to do to get him to stop opr why he suddenly started to it. Any ideas?

 

[Chickiemom25]

Sounds like you need more room for everyone

 

[lilnuggets]

the run is a 16'x 8' with an additional space that has a pond for the ducks. any suggestions how much bigger the run would need to be? We are planning on letting them free range eventually but we are still teaching the dogs that they are not snacks

 

[chickens really]

Sometimes Ducks and Chickens can not share the same space..My Ducks hate my Chickens...Drakes get aggressive and protective of Duck Hens..Time to totally separate the two species...

 

[Snoozeys]

When i originally got my new drake he used to try to barge my rooster and chickens ... puts his head down and runs at them but over time he has grown out of it mostly ... mostly only happens these days if he is eating and the hens get too close to him or his mate !!!
So your drake might get over it in time !!!