drake charging after my son **Update page 2**

Sounds like nesting/breeding behavior

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our muscovy drakes all shared nest setting duties with our hens.They had some kind of schedule, each hen would take their"watch" and so would each drake...did i have odd muscovies then b/c i thought that was just how muscovies did things..... we've never had any other duck species besides muscovies so i had nothing to compare it with.

I am glad that you are not eating your duck! You can also feel good that you saved your pet! Don't punish the aggressive duck's future ducklings! They might be a nice duck or ducks! In the end, violence never solves anything, it just makes the person more violent. You can get away with eating your ducks, but it will affect your perception of other things negatively. It is like the Russian princes (Ivan the Terrible) who watched people throw cats off their towers. Eventually, he decided throwing animals off towers to their death was just as acceptable as murdering "disloyal" or "unpatriotic" Russian, whatever that meant. I think you are a better person already.

I have a Silver Appleyard drake who charged my legs and bit the back of my jeans when I was leaving the pen one day this spring. I turned around and took my pointer finger and tapped his beak and said "no" sharply. My husband made fun of me for that. The next day he tried to charge me while I was facing him. I put him in a submissive position gently and tapped his beak again saying "no". I know this sounds silly but it worked. So far those instances were the only times he displayed aggressive behavior. He has been around children and other adults since. He still eats out of human hands and is back to his old self (or so it seems). My recommendation... don't be violent with the bird but do firmly stand your ground.

I am real sorry to hear that this drake charged your son. How scary for the boy!

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LOL Ya my son is 3 and he is kind of scared now. We fenced in the ducks and made a pond today and all day he would come running to me and if the drake was looking at him or in his direction he would say, "oh no, mom the mean ducky is looking at me" - the poor thing.... but now he is fenced in and my son can look from the other side of the fence and every one will be happy

May I chime in?

Thank you, I think I will.



Please don't be distressed with the drake. Of course you don't want your son attacked, nor you, nor anyone else. I understand that. I don't, however, believe it is right to get upset with an animal for being who they are, instinctively and by design. For some reason, your drake feels threatened or is being protective. It doesn't matter much to me whether or not your son provoked the duck; I'm not jumping on that bandwagon. If he did, you will soon know and deal accordingly.

(I am guessing your son is a youngster, verses a teenager, and perhaps not the one who normally feeds and cares for the ducks? Not terribly significant, except that I've noticed birds, and animals in general, can spot a youngster and their unpredictable behavior and wisely be on guard.)

Meanwhile, and regardless of the "why", you need a solution, and I'd like to offer something to try that has NEVER failed:

We have peafowl, guineas, geese, ducks, and chickens. (We've also kept turkeys.) At one time or another, the various males will get their feathers ruffled and become aggressive. Mating season is a great occasion to witness this behavior. Feeding time, between breeds, is another.

What works without fail, regardless of breed is "stalking" the aggressive bird at a quick pace. This takes a little bit of nerve, if one, such as your son, might be timid. If that is the case, do it with him. If he is not timid, do this with him at least the first time or two.

Say you are going out into the yard (plan this so it doesn't interrupt something else you planned, thus resulting in this not being effective). When you go into the yard, spot the drake, and begin walking after him at a quick pace. Do not harm him, or kick him, or any such thing, just walk straight at him. Follow him around the yard for a few minutes doing this. Do this a few times the first day.

Repeat for a few days, at least once in the day. I PROMISE this will end this behavior. Anytime it looks like the drake has an eye for challenge, stalk him before he has an opportunity.

This works for all the birds. If your son is SMALLER than the birds, YOU need to do this.



This is something we observed in nature, namely from the favorite peacock who would stalk an aggressive rooster that challenged other roosters. The peacock's stalking in essence disallowed any other bird from being aggressive or fighting. When there is no peacock around, the flock needs me to keep them in line. I rarely have to do it, but if there is an aggressive bird, I stalk. Three days tops.


Please let me know how this works for you!

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Of course you can chime in. This is the 1st time for me dealing with "aggression" so i am looking for advice. I did notice today, it looked more like he was trying to intimidate rather than hurt. Everytime the kids were around, especially my son, he would go towards them and stop once they were far enough away from the girls and eggs. I will definately try your recommendation and see how it goes.

If you can identify that the drake is guarding a "zone", you may want to stay clear of the zone and recognize that he is doing a good job protecting his girls and eggs.

I WANT drakes, roos, and ganders, that will defend the hens and eggs to the death.

So, try to determine the difference if this drake is pursuing your son or if the drake is defending a confined area, thus is reasonable and best left to do his job.

Wow. I knew my drake (Saxony, 15 months old) was aggressive - but he's waaaaaay beyond the aggressive described here.

JJ started biting at my hands while we would be weeding when he started getting his adult plumage and it's just increased from there. Both he and his mate (Jenny) were incubated and raised by us with lots of holding, watching TV on the couch, etc. But now I have to make sure all of my skin is covered whenever I let them out in the morning or go in the backyard - he grabs and will tear skins/bruise. He can even bruise through my shirt/pants. And he has impeccable ability to find skin - if I'm weeding with my back to him he can always find a piece of skin showing above my waistband on my backside. Also - it's just me. He NEVER bites my boyfriend. If I stand with my bare legs between my BF JJ will only attack mine. And I don't think it's the lack of hair that he's noticing!

From the time he started biting me I did the techniques I've read here, i.e. dominating him by holding him and putting pressure on the back of his neck. It does work for a few minutes....but the next time he sees me he goes crazy again. I think he attacks me because he thinks he's defending - I'm the one who cleans his pen/ponds/does the backyard work. But now he also runs into the house and tries to attack me in the house too.

The part I'm most concerned about is that now he's taking his aggression towards me out on Jenny. When he sees me now he'll turn around and take out a chunk of her feathers and chase her. She was broody for a bit (I didn't let her hatch - we don't need more ducks) and since she has stopped being broody he's just a biggest pain ever. He attacks her when I put them to bed now too.

Eating him is not an option - I'm a suburban Silicon Valley duck owner. Does something like Bach's Calming Remedy help? He didn't mellow out over the winter - he's just had a constant increase in aggression over his life. But I don't want Jenny beaten up - she's the sweetest, prettiest duck.

Suggestions besides killing him? I might be able to get another female - or would that just give him more to guard?