Aggressive Female Buff Ducks

[Littleducky23]

One of my female buff ducks has been getting beat up by all my other females. This poor girl gets ganged up on by the others- they grab her neck and twist and pull feathers out. This is very strange behavior to me since I’ve never seen any aggression like this. All my ducks were raised together (now 10 months old). I am wondering if my male to female ratio is off? (1 buff drake, 5 buff female, 3 runner female) or if there’s another reason why this one girl is getting beat on. I live in upstate NY and it’s been pretty cold this past week, I’ve provided shelter, lots of hay, food water etc. They have been spending all day in their run and before dinner time I let them roam if they decide to (they hate the snow and would prefer to avoid it lol) is it possible they are bored, frustrated? And taking it out on this girl?

 

[shawluvsbirds]

One of my female buff ducks has been getting beat up by all my other females. This poor girl gets ganged up on by the others- they grab her neck and twist and pull feathers out. This is very strange behavior to me since I’ve never seen any aggression like this. All my ducks were raised together (now 10 months old). I am wondering if my male to female ratio is off? (1 buff drake, 5 buff female, 3 runner female) or if there’s another reason why this one girl is getting beat on. I live in upstate NY and it’s been pretty cold this past week, I’ve provided shelter, lots of hay, food water etc. They have been spending all day in their run and before dinner time I let them roam if they decide to (they hate the snow and would prefer to avoid it lol) is it possible they are bored, frustrated? And taking it out on this girl?

She's unfortunately become the weak link for some reason it sounds like.
Check her out and see if she may have something wrong with her. They tend to bully a sick or injured one.
Ducks sort of fuss over dominance just like the pecking order with chickens. Have you noticed if it's just certain ones picking on her or is it all of them?

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I just re-read..you said it's all of them.
Hum. Sometimes you can pen up a bully for a while to try and reset their social order. Maybe you could try dividing them up into two groups or something and put her with some of the less aggressive ones?
It sounds like they are being hormonal little hussies. As far as ratio usually the more females you have the better.
I hesitate to tell you to add another Drake, sometimes two Drakes won't get along no matter how many females you have, especially if they weren't raised together.

 

[Littleducky23]

This morning when they were all outside I noticed the duck who was getting attacked yesterday is now the one picking fights with the others. I understand if she is becoming the weak link and getting attacked but now I see maybe she was picking fights. I looked her over and noticed that she’s got bumblefoot which I will look into taking care of. Could this possibly be aggravating her and causing her to lash out? should I separate her?

 

[shawluvsbirds]

This morning when they were all outside I noticed the duck who was getting attacked yesterday is now the one picking fights with the others. I understand if she is becoming the weak link and getting attacked but now I see maybe she was picking fights. I looked her over and noticed that she’s got bumblefoot which I will look into taking care of. Could this possibly be aggravating her and causing her to lash out? should I separate her?

It definitely could be the reason.
And yes, you will need to separate her and keep her on some really clean dry bedding for a while while you are treating that bumblefoot.