are all drakes doomed to be mean??!!

[Ariesmom]

I have a 3 yr old swedish blue that was a gift for my daughter when he was first hatched. He followed her around everywhere and she just loved him. Fast forward 3 yrs later and he is AWFUL!! I hate him!! Did we do something wrong when raising him or is it because he's with his hens or what? I am seriously thinking about giving them all up but I love the idea of having ducks. I am hatching some of their offspring this weekend and was thinking of starting over and keeping some of those ( possibly just the girls if it's a drake issue with aggression )....and getting rid of the dad and moms. He was horrible before we got him the girls...I got them to curb his supposed obsession with mating with my feet but it didn't seem to help. You can't do anything around him without getting attacked!!!! Is it just his personality or all drakes?? What do you guys suggest? I also thought if I just kept hens that they could coexist better with my geese and chickens...this darn Swedish can't go near anything but his 2 girls!!

 

[sourland]

There are lots of good drakes, but the obnoxious ones really make an impression. Hopefully one of his sons will be more mellow and mr obnoxious can move on to other venues.

 

[Mike Winters]

hes not realy being aggressive to be mean. hes being aggressive because drakes are over zealous sex addicts for 4 months of the year

 

[sourland]

There are mean drakes, and then there are sexually agressive drakes, and then there are mean sexually aggressive drakes and all sort of variations in between. There are also rather mellow drakes who manage to get the job done without being obnoxious. They are the ones that I always utilized for breeding.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Virtually no drakes are mean. It's a very rare drake that attacks people and, by anecdotal evidence, the attacking drakes are all drakes who have been raised as spoiled pets.

If they are not raised as ducks, their identity is confused. They don't know whether they are people or people are ducks or what, but they think you are all in the same flock and they won't respect you if you don't demand to be their social superior.

I have 7 drakes and, while they are very (very!) sexually active, they are extremely polite to me and they do not fight with one another. That is what is typical drake behavior.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Not all drakes are like this. I started raising duck two years ago. I got my first drake as an adult and he was like this, but not as bad it seems. He would only "attack" if you touched or got close to one of his girls. He grew out of that really quick after figuring out that that didn't deter me. He was actually a really good boy. He was very sexually active but the girls didn't even care! Since then I have hatched and raised three other drakes. None of them have been this way but the one I still have, is not very "polite" to one of the girls in particular. You may either have to get rid of him, or teach him who is boss. Good luck!

 

[Mike Winters]

ya its usually a spoiled bird. my ducks grew up like ducks and the only aggressive ones where a broody female or a female when you pick up its screaming baby. males got along they would assist each other on err gang raping expeditions. it don't sound nice to us but that's how bachelor groups of drakes are.

 

[Going Quackers]

I don't believe so, none of my 3 are. At the same token i also agree with below...

"There are mean drakes, and then there are sexually agressive drakes, and then there are mean sexually aggressive drakes and all sort of variations in between. There are also rather mellow drakes who manage to get the job done without being obnoxious. They are the ones that I always utilized for breeding."

 

[ChristineR]

I think some drakes are just aggressive regardless of how they were raised. I'm not arguing that you can't create a monster, but I also think it depends on the drake's breeding and just chance. I would not breed a drake that behaves like yours, because you would just be passing on his genes. Why would you want to reproduce what you don't like?

The Black Swedish "pet" drake I have now is awful and he wasn't ever babied. Of all the ducks I've had, he's actually from a group of ducklings that got less attention than all the others I've had, because I was so busy at the time. I got him from a waterfowl hatchery, not a private breeder. He is the most ornery drake I have ever had. I suspect he had something to do with the death of my little Serama rooster this week.

I've also had nice friendly drakes.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Now I'm a little scared, I have a little duckling that may or may not be a blue swedish, that is starting to look like a boy. Guess I better give him/her LOTS of attention just in case!