Aggressive Muscovy Drake

[scrossley]

Help! My 5 month old Muscovy drake has gotten aggressive with my neighbors when they're out walking and one has threatened to harm him how can I stop this behavior? I thought I'd start to confine him again for his own safety but not sure if that's a good option. If I rehome him 7 miles away, will he try to come back?

 

[HappyDuckie]

by "rehome", do you mean put him in a pond or lake, or give him to new owners?

 

[scrossley]

by "rehome", do you mean put him in a pond or lake, or give him to new owners?

I live on a small lake in a residential area, and for the most part my ducks have stayed in my backyard but now they are wandering out front and my one Drake is going after the neighbors pecking at them and biting them when they're trying to walk, so If we can't get him to stop, we thought one option would be to take him to my boyfriend's place which is on a canal 7 miles away, but don't know if he would try to come back home and get hurt/killed in the process. We do have a large kennel/run 8x4 x6high, which we thought we could try confining him in for a while as another option ... We don't want to lose him but we don't want him hurt either, we wish we could get him to stop!

 

[kaumlauf]

Hi, sorry to hear of your troubles. Muscovies are not migratory, like Mallards are. But I have known them to wander...especially along creeks. Whether he'll try to get back home if you relocate him is a question I can't answer. ..but I doubt he'd try to make a 7 mile journey. Your bossy drake may need a mate, (are there other ducks with him?,,,ideally he should be in a flock of other muscovies.) But he may stay bossy, even then, but the other ducks will keep his attention . He can be confined with no ill effect if that is your only choice. Also, it is illegal to "let them go" in many areas, so you might want to think about where you re-home him if that is your choice. Good luck. and I'm sorry your neighbor is such a meanie.

 

[scrossley]

Hi, sorry to hear of your troubles. Muscovies are not migratory, like Mallards are. But I have known them to wander...especially along creeks. Whether he'll try to get back home if you relocate him is a question I can't answer. ..but I doubt he'd try to make a 7 mile journey. Your bossy drake may need a mate, (are there other ducks with him?,,,ideally he should be in a flock of other muscovies.) But he may stay bossy, even then, but the other ducks will keep his attention . He can be confined with no ill effect if that is your only choice. Also, it is illegal to "let them go" in many areas, so you might want to think about where you re-home him if that is your choice. Good luck. and I'm sorry your neighbor is such a meanie.

Hi thanks for responding ... he's in a flock of like 14 ducks, 7 are his siblings and then 7 other ducks.
I know it is illegal to transport Muscovies anywhere else and I really don't want to do that, I just don't want him ending up hurt. I have him penned up for now on my patio, but we're going to try to make a bigger outdoor enclosure that he can't get out of - there won't be a top so I don't know if he'll try to fly out of it .. ?? (He's only 5 most old but he's BIG, and haven't seen him fly much)

 

[Beaglegal]

My husband had muscovies growing up... one in particular would attack the meter reader. He was a really big guy and more scared of the Muscovy than neighborhood dogs.