Pekin drake aggressive towards some females

[mrsdelore]

Hello everyone. I have 5 pekins - a drake and 4 females. The drake and 2 of the females have been together here since they were ducklings and are now 4 years old. Last summer we took in 2 rescues that have leg issues (big swollen joints, probably improper nutrition as ducklings) and after their isolation period, they seemed to integrate very well.

Suddenly this spring, the drake has become what seems to be either very aggressive and/or excessive mating behavior towards just those 2. It's truly hard to say exactly what the behavior is - he will mate with them, but then he will also go after their legs, etc. He was so hard on one poor girl that he rubbed/broke off a lot of feathers!

At first I think it was just spring mating season and he would cool off. Eventually, realizing that unless I stayed outside full time with them to curb the behavior, I needed to take a more drastic step, so I moved the drake to our smaller isolation pen. Every few days, I try letting the drake out to free range with everyone. Sometimes he's ok for a few hours, other days he makes a beeline straight for one of those girls and just starts harassing her. He does not exhibit this behavior towards the 2 he was raised with.

The 4 females get along very well - there has never been any issue there. And they honestly seem happier when the drake is not with them. Outside of this new bad behavior, we adore our drake and I don't really want to get rid of him - but is that my only choice?

 

[swampfox440]

Is this the only drake you have ? Sorry I got confused ?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Nope drake jail comes to mind and many of us use it, just separate him from the females until late summer early fall, but where they can all see each other. You'll have to judge when to put him back by how he acts towards them.
I have goose jail which is same but with geese instead of ducks. lol

 

[sourland]

He should calm down once we approach autumn, but separation may remain necessary.

 

[mrsdelore]

Is this the only drake you have ? Sorry I got confused ?

Yes - just the one drake and then 4 females.

 

[swampfox440]

Yes - just the one drake and then 4 females.

I have been trying to figure out why they do this for years . Your only option may be to rehome your drake and get a younger less aggressive one . I noticed that if you have two or three drakes, they will sometimes target one female and breed her to death even if there are other females . Never could figure out why . I may be that they envy each other . In your case I would isolate him if you want to keep him .

 

[mrsdelore]

I have been trying to figure out why they do this for years . Your only option may be to rehome your drake and get a younger less aggressive one . I noticed that if you have two or three drakes, they will sometimes target one female and breed her to death even if there are other females . Never could figure out why . I may be that they envy each other . In your case I would isolate him if you want to keep him .

We honestly can't figure out if he hates the two he harasses or if he likes them too much! We thought adding 2 more females would spread the love around a bit more!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just a thought have you tried him with the 2 he is aggressive with? minus his 2 favorites?

 

[mrsdelore]

Just a thought have you tried him with the 2 he is aggressive with? minus his 2 favorites?

I've thought about it but haven't tried it yet as I think I would want to supervise the entire time. the two he's aggressive with both have leg issues (maybe that's why he acts like this??) and I wouldn't want him to hurt them if they were in the pen with him and couldn't get away.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Of course with supervision sorry I didn't mention that.
They can def pick out if there is a weakness in the flock. You maybe on to something. Just wondering how he would react if it was just him and them.