Aggressive Drake

ifeline

In the Brooder
Aug 3, 2020
5
5
19
I have one pair of call ducks that are raised together as pets. I got them from the breeder as a juvenile pair, and they seem to be attached to each other very much, and could not bear one second of separation.
However, the drake is becoming more and more aggressive. He attacks me by biting my trousers and my hands whenever I'm within reach. I think this is OK as his bite does not really hurts, and I assume I just got a bad tempered bird. The female, on the contrary, is super sweet. Recently the drake starts attacking the female. Within two weeks, I found the female got a bleeding wound on the head three times.
The first time I rushed her to a vet. The vet said she was fine and only needed anesthetic ointment, but she needed to be separated from the drake for some time. I tried for a day but she kept quacking for the drake (so was the drake quacking for her), so I put them together again and they seemed to be happy together.
But after a week, I found her wound bleeding again. I put her in a separate box and after the wound seemed to be healed, I put her back with the drake.
Then tonight I just found her wound was bleeding again. I did not hear them fighting at all and they did not look like they were in war with each other though.
It looks to me that I should keep the two ducks separated for good. But I'm worried that the female duck would be lonely. However, I'm also worried that even if I could get her a new female companion, her situation won't get improved, as she has a sweet temper which might make herself a target of duck abuse.
Does anyone have any experience about how to stop an aggressive duck from attacking other ducks?
Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to BYC! :frow

The drake is becoming hormonal which causes aggressive behaviour. They often have to be separated to prevent serious injuries to the female(s).

I do not know of any other way to stop them, as they are in a state of hormonal overflow and rage that could easily lead to the female getting killed.
 
My runner females regularly bleed from the head during mating season. The boys are very rough when romancing the girls, and the only solution I've come up with is to add more females to at least spread the attention around.

I'm surprised that your male is misbehaving this time of year; my drakes are really only obnoxiously rowdy during the warm months when mating is one of their only priorities. Then, they will actually nip at each other, although no one ever really gets wounded.

Although mine are housed together at night, during the day, everyone free ranges, which also lets the girls find ways to escape.

Since I tend to believe more ducks is always better (duck math is every bit as real as chicken math), I think it would be okay to get your girl some company.

Good luck with keeping your girl safe and finding a workable solution.
 
Welcome to BYC! :frow

The drake is becoming hormonal which causes aggressive behaviour. They often have to be separated to prevent serious injuries to the female(s).

I do not know of any other way to stop them, as they are in a state of hormonal overflow and rage that could easily lead to the female getting killed.
Thanks for the reply! Is this hormonal overflow a temporary issue during growth, or is it a long-term problem with adult drakes?
 
My runner females regularly bleed from the head during mating season. The boys are very rough when romancing the girls, and the only solution I've come up with is to add more females to at least spread the attention around.

I'm surprised that your male is misbehaving this time of year; my drakes are really only obnoxiously rowdy during the warm months when mating is one of their only priorities. Then, they will actually nip at each other, although no one ever really gets wounded.

Although mine are housed together at night, during the day, everyone free ranges, which also lets the girls find ways to escape.

Since I tend to believe more ducks is always better (duck math is every bit as real as chicken math), I think it would be okay to get your girl some company.

Good luck with keeping your girl safe and finding a workable solution.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me!
I live in California. We have warm winters and that might be the reason.
 

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