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?
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?