2 ducks (drakes?) fighting

[nolamimi504]

NO FEMALE!! all ducks fight to decide who is the dominant duck. drakes will settle down after this but if you add females they’ll continue to fight for her and eventually kill her or each other. you will also need atleast 4 hens for 2 drakes.

My problem is I have 4 ducks; we thought we had 2 females and 2 males but we ended up with 3 males. Two of my males (Cayuga & Khaki Campbell) go head to head whenever they see one another. This is new behavior. Our female seemed to have chosen the Cayuga but the Khaki Campbell would just take it from her, whenever he got the urge, which was often. It’s like he truly believes Goldie is his and if anyone gets near her he attacks them. The Cayuga has always been protective of Goldie for months. I have 17 eggs incubating currently and am hoping some females hatch from there..but what can I do in the meantime. We have taken to bringing the Khaki Campbell inside the house rather than allow him and the Cayuga to have an MMA style match. The 3rd drake is no problem, shows no aggression or anything. Any advice??

 

[davez]

There is something called "light castration" or "light sterilization". Look into it. Keep the aggressive duck in a dark environment longer than the sun is out and it can reduce his mating drive.

Duck behavior varies. There is never a one size fits all solution, duck personality will play a part as well. Sometimes you can have combos that are unexpected.

Keeping them seperate will protect them and is probably the best solution for now. When you change the flock dynamic, expect some more fighting initially until they get pecking order sorted out.