Odd duck hen behavior?

[JonB]

I have 3 ducks; a Rouen, Pekin and Khaki. The Rou and Pek are females, the Khaki is a handsome drake. The females are irritating to me with their constant loud chatter and need to vocalize all the time(their loud mouths drew a red fox in). The big problem I'm having, is the Rouen mounting the Pekin often in the water tubs. She stands on top of her, biting her by the nap of her neck and just sits there. This seems like odd behavior for a female. Is she trying to be dominant? She weighs nothing, so the Pekin isn't getting crushed, but I don't like it occurring. The Pekin eventually jumps up, but often after I intervene. The Rouen seems very aggressive and gets "bristly" along her neck at times. She's the most agrressive towards the chickens, although our RR hen fights back.

Also, both the Rou and Khaki tear out the Pekins feathers and eat them often. I have them on adult duck food, with cracked corn and greens thrown in. They've been better with this lately, but the Pek has a patch that got irritated because the feathers are more permanent now, whereas before, they were still fuzzy.

Sorry for the long-winded post, but this has been bothering me for awhile. I love my drake, but am slowly despising my females...

 

[Amiga]

Try to let the despising go. They are ducks. And while some folks talk in terms of dominance, it's just them acting on their hormones. My all-girl runner flock plays hop on top. They have a good time.

Now with some ducks, they really grab neck feathers. It is a spectrum. From hardly any neck feathers affected, to bald patches.

If the ducks don't injure each other, I would not worry about it. About the quacking - they are ducks. And it's not just the noise that attracts predators. They see and smell the ducks. So even if they were silent, the predators would come around.

 

[JonB]

I know...they are just doing what they do. I just don't like how they both gang up on the Pekin. The Rouen always initiates it. The Pekin doesn't defend herself much. She's the largest too(obviously). I wonder if the white feathers are the cause?