Adding a young duck to my mallards

[Cookster]

I’ve got a 5 week old mallard that’s been in the house and spoiled. It’s time to put it outside and I have 10 week old runners in a pin outside. I’ve been letting him have day trips outside with them but the mallard wants nothing to do with them. He runs them away constantly. Any suggestions?

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Ducks are very "clique-ish", so I wish you luck! If they weren't raised together it will be very difficult to integrate them.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Can you get another mallard his age for him?

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUN-omenal Flock!

I hope you enjoy BYC as much as we do!

 

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and welcome to BackYard Chickens.

Integrating ducks can sometimes be a challenge, but it's important you bring the duck out every day, or more, to get him used to the other ones.

If you've ever had chickens, you probably know about the no-touch but - see method, as the name states, it's a method of integration where the birds can physically see each other but aren't able to touch physically. Do this method for a week or so, then try letting the bird out supervised with the other ducks and see how they get along. There will be some bullying at first, but if it starts to get to the point where someones getting hurt, you'll need to separate.

To decrease the chances of them fighting when there with each other, generally, the more space you provide the less likely they will fight. Sometimes they'll fight over food/water sources so adding several feeders and waterer may help. Feeding them all treats when you let the duck out may bring the other ducks attention to the treats rather than the duck itself. Integrating them can be hard, but it can be done, so far I've integrated around thirty birds here with pretty good success, sometimes it takes lots of patience and time.

 

[N F C]

Hello, good advice from @Isaac 0, hope it helps!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Eventually he will discover that he is a duck and not a small feathered human.

 

[Cookster]

Hello, and welcome to BackYard Chickens.

Integrating ducks can sometimes be a challenge, but it's important you bring the duck out every day, or more, to get him used to the other ones.

If you've ever had chickens, you probably know about the no-touch but - see method, as the name states, it's a method of integration where the birds can physically see each other but aren't able to touch physically. Do this method for a week or so, then try letting the bird out supervised with the other ducks and see how they get along. There will be some bullying at first, but if it starts to get to the point where someones getting hurt, you'll need to separate.

To decrease the chances of them fighting when there with each other, generally, the more space you provide the less likely they will fight. Sometimes they'll fight over food/water sources so adding several feeders and waterer may help. Feeding them all treats when you let the duck out may bring the other ducks attention to the treats rather than the duck itself. Integrating them can be hard, but it can be done, so far I've integrated around thirty birds here with pretty good success, sometimes it takes lots of patience and time.

I’ll continue to work with them to see if they will eventually get along, they don’t fight at all the young mallard just chases them. It’s not clear if he’s trying to just get close to them and they are scared of him. It’s interesting to see. I know Indian runners get stressed a lot easier then any ducks I’ve had in the past and I’ve wondered if that may be part of it.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I don't know a thing about ducks. @Isaac 0 has given you great advice however. Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours!