Are my ducks attacking me????

Oddyse

Songster
8 Years
May 21, 2011
300
5
101
Bristol
Ok guys, strange question here but I have no idea whats going on. When I give treats to my ducks, il hold the treats in my hands, they come over to me and their heads are shaking. Then when they have finished eating out of my hand they do something really strange. Il try and explain. Imagine your hand is full of peas and your down offering them to the ducks, when the hand is empty and they have eaten them all, they sort of jump onto my arm, like there knecks go straight and the head ends up by elbow. Then they run off. They dont do this normally, like when im just sat chatting to them, its only after treats, they shake quit badly to. It concerns me because when I added the two younger ones to the two older ones, the older ones used to do this just before they attacked the little ones. I hope its a display of effection rather than anything else. They dont peck me, just sort of flop on my arm and run away. Its strange! They are females by the way, because I thought it could be a sort of "dog against the sofa" moment, if you know what I mean, but I guess this would only come from the males. Anyways, any ideas and opinions welcome! Many thanks in advance
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It could be related to mating, how old are these girls? right now some of us are seeing dominance being displayed in our young drakes towards us and this could be the female verson.
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I am holding my 3 month old down on the floor body and head till he stops moving, he is attacking my feet when I walk.
 
Quote:
It could be related to mating, how old are these girls? right now some of us are seeing dominance being displayed in our young drakes towards us and this could be the female verson.
hu.gif
I am holding my 3 month old down on the floor body and head till he stops moving, he is attacking my feet when I walk.

lol I'm just imagining a Viva Pinata duck getting angry lol
 
Its sorta sweet though, it doesnt hurt at all and they dont do anything which could mark me. I guess il just have to tell them off (which is always hard) when they do it next. Bless them, even when being naughty you still love them.
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Oh I agree, when mine first started biting my feet, it was cute but now it hurts and he is showing some agression like he would to the females to get them to cooperate, so I have to show him I am the dominant one in his flock. which usually takes a second.
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he's a house duck but does go out and mingle with the rest of our ducks. They have to learn to control these impluses just like a dog would have to do.
 
They are trying to dominate you. Consider it a complement. They see you as part of the flock. You do, however, have to establish that YOU are the leader of the flock. Pick up the offender and carry her around for a bit.
 
I just carried her around for a bit and she seems to have calmed down already! But my disabled duck, the one that cant walk well, still does it, but I kinda dont mind her feeling dominant as she cant do any harm to anything and if it makes her feel better its all good with me. Is there anything else, other than picking them up, that I can do to show them im the boss?
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I had a problem with my drake going after one of my kids. The advice I got here was to hold him down to the ground, one hand on his back so he was flat on the ground like the girls are when he mates them. Then I was told to stand over him him, one leg on each side. I did that and had each of my kids do it and we haven't had a problem since.
 
I was wondering the same thing a little bit ago and found this thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=355690

it
appears to be a dominance thing, and I still have yet to fix this problem with my ducks (who are also hens) because I didn't know what I could do to stop them from doing it. I will definitely try picking them up and walking around with them, even if they do scratch me to death lol.
 

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