Are you Peking kidding me?

[black_cat]

I think that this is a misunderstanding-all people involved are trying to help and misinterpreting the other people's responses, which leads to confusion. IMHO it would be a good idea to drop this and focus on helping the OP with his/her ducks.

 

[Ab1010]

I think that this is a misunderstanding-all people involved are trying to help and misinterpreting the other people's responses, which leads to confusion. IMHO it would be a good idea to drop this and focus on helping the OP with his/her ducks.

You are not wrong. I thought twice about saying anything but I dont like rudeness. Ive been thinking about what to say for the ducks.. i have four ducks, unfortunately two are males and the other two haven't grown enough for me to tell. Ive had 8 ducks in total but things happen. I have never had a problem with mine overly chasing my chickens. What helps me is I raised my geese with my chickens and they don't stand bulying going on. Do you have roosters at all? If you are trying to integrate maybe a rooster will tell the duck to knock it off. My ducks are not friendly either. I cant catch them and they keep a distance but they do come running for food. I feed all my free range birds out in the open together. Eventually a pecking order will be set and things should settle down. Idk if that helps at all but good luck

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

A rooster and a duck fighting could end up going badly really quick. From the fights I’ve had happen ducks just generally grab ahold of feathers and try to rip them out some way, an aggressive rooster goes for the eyes and face with spurs and his beak. Our ducks generally have dominion over the chickens, and our rooster doesn’t test that much.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I have 3 roosters... All of them were raised with my 2 ducks. None of the roosters chase the ducks or retaliate when the ducks chase the two chickens. Remember that the 2 chickens being chased are 1 female and 1 male. However even the rooster being chased does not fight back against the ducks even though he is bigger than the female duck.

 

[Aapomp831]

I think that this is a misunderstanding-all people involved are trying to help and misinterpreting the other people's responses, which leads to confusion. IMHO it would be a good idea to drop this and focus on helping the OP with his/her ducks.

Right... where are you from could imply that that somehow matters... where are you located is direct and to the point. People are too sensitive these days.

 

[LT71689]

Apparently the seller is only willing to sell them in 3s - two females and 1 male. So I will be buying a trio of Pekins and a trio of Silver Appleyards. I guess I will just have a cull one of the Pekin males...

Are the appleyards also 1 male 2 females? So you'd have 3 males and 5 females in total? You'll probably have to get rid of 2 males if thats the case, not just 1.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

This doesn't explain why they choose to wreck havoc on the 2 poor chickens that are the target of their vengeance.

They have water - not only do they have a decent sized pond to swim in, their is a small overflow stream coming off the pond where they can root for bugs (which they do), there is also a water bucket that is always full which my chickens use when free ranging, AND the ducks frequently stick their head through the chicken yard fence to drink water from the chickens' pen.

They have food - won't use the feeders I put out or eat anything I try to give them on land.

They have shelter - there is a duck house with straw right next to their pond on the bank where they typically sleep. Won't use it or go inside it.

Ducks like to stay out and party all night. They usually have to be trained to go in at night with treats and herding them in. They will learn a routine if your persistent.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Now I'm even more curious to understand why the female is attacking my chickens... She is the main instigator. The male typically just follows her although he will attempt to bite if the chickens allow themselves to be cornered. He will not go out of his way though... The female, on the other hand, is relentless about chasing them non-stop until they fly up out of her reach or go back inside the chicken yard

If you brooded the species together they would have bonded, and will think they are all the same species. I highly recommend not brooding different species together if possible. It probably is why you are seeing aggression. As yours sexually mature they will feel the need to work out the pecking order with their siblings, who happen to be chickens.

At this point I would keep the species separately to avoid aggression. Ducks can kill chickens. I had a chicken bonded muscovy drake I acquired, who repeatedly attacked my bantam roosters, and eventually tore the comb off one. He went away.

The species can be housed together with the right situation, and where everyone knows what species they are.

 

[FunQuail]

@TJAnonymous sounds like you're going to wait a bit before culling them. I've heard with the lager breeds it may take her longer to start laying. Also find a treat they absolutely adore and sit in a chair it may take even a few months, but toss the food to them then start tossing the food closer to you over time and all it takes is one. If one of them starts taking treats from your hand the others will join him or her eventually. Some of my more skittish ones took about 4 days to finally take the grape from my hand. And be a statue and move incredibly slow. I mean like snail pace or even whatever is slower than a snail.
Good luck!

 

[TJAnonymous]

I am picking up the new ducks tomorrow night. The seller is bringing me 3 Pekins (1 male, 2 females) and 3 Silver Appleyard (1 male, 2 females). I don't think my husband is very happy with me for trying to solve my problem by buying more ducks. Maybe my hope is outweighing my sense...

This brings me to figuring out how to best integrate everyone. As I already mentioned, my existing ducks will not use the duck house I have for them. It would be FAR too small for anything more than 2 ducks anyway. I have 2 existing coops. One is a "mobile" coop that is approximately 4' x 6' and sits about 12" off the ground with a ramp to the door. This coop is currently empty and inside a small fenced area (25' x 25'?) which can be isolated from the chicken yard. The coop itself has an automatic door and is predator proof. The fenced yard is NOT predator proof.

The 2nd existing coop is about 6' x 8' and is currently used by my 2 goats and 17 chickens. There is a ladder roost which takes up a lot of room so currently no extra space in here. This coop has to be manually locked each night. It is located inside a large fenced chicken yard which is approximately 125' x 25'. This is a guess but it is a big area. Again, the yard is not predator proof because it is not covered and the fence is only about 4 ft high.

I am in the process of building a 3rd new coop. It is located in the large chicken yard. It is 8' x 10" on a concrete slab with an automatic door. My intention is to move all my chickens (hopefully) into the new coop including 20 new baby chicks (currently 4 weeks old). I will have approx 25' - 30' of roost space in the new coop. The goats will NOT be allowed inside.

Soooo... If I am going to pen up the ducks (including trying to entice my existing ducks to join the new ones in the pen), it would seem my options are:

1. Put them all in in smaller fenced yard with the 4' x 6 coop.

2. Put them with the chickens and goats in the larger yard and allow them to decide which coop they will to go in (the one with the goats or the new one)
3. Move the mobile coop closer to the pond, retrofit the automatic door to work off solar power, and don't pen ANY of them into a yard. Might be able to put up a temporary fence for this option, just to get them used to going in the coop.


There's also the dilemma of the male - female balance. I will definitely have to cull at least one male. I'd really like to keep one Pekin male and the SA male both, if possible. That would bring me to 5 females with 2 males...