Ciscoe the duck from hell....

[newbyduckmom]

This is Ciscoe.


My "favorite" duck. He has started attacking me and have been following everyone's (duckdad's) suggestions on how to handle this. Ciscoe is finally getting to the point where he lets me pet him without trying to bite my arm off - after 2 weeks of working on it.

Yesterday, however, I picked up Watson, the drake that has feather challenges (has the "wet" look no mites, getting supplement vitamins, warm baths, generally babying him to try to improve the situation) to put him in the house. Felt something tugging on my pant leg as I walked. Thought I had caught it on something. Here's Ciscoe attacking my pant leg. Tugging the heck out of it, and trying to pull me backwards. Presumably trying to protect his buddy, Watson, from the big, bad, ugly human. The minute I put Watson down, Ciscoe went about his business like nothing had happened.

Silly ducks. Kind of warmed my heart, gotta protect his buddy from the big, bad, ugly human.

 

[duckdad]

Absolutely !

They DO have a protective instinct and even some jelousy.

If I pick up Squeek and hold her, Buddy will wait about 1 min then start tugging at my pant leg or shoe. Thats my hint to put her down and hold him so he can ride on my shoulder (his shoulder)...if I hold him long enough, then Squeek starts feeling ignored and will whine a bit, then start nipping at the pant leg. And there is no separating those 2...If I take one, the other starts screaming or loosin his/her mind until they can see the other again.

If I hold Squeek first, Buddy will be right there to watch and stand guard. They both want ot be held together but thats kind of difficult with birds that size.

When its dinner time, and I reach for their plastic bin that contains the water & feed dish, buddy will come running and sometimes try to get a mouthfull of my hand as he tries to protect "their stuff"....I have to actually say something to get his attention and rub his neck so he doesn't freak out....it really doesn't matter because the minute that I go around the corner they will both fly out of the pen and walk in the house to watch me make their dinner...then they stand there jumping around when they see the white plastic bin in my hand again because they KNOW that its been refilled and its time to eat !

When I get back to the pen I'll set the bin back inside and the 2 ducks will be on the wrong side of the fence...going crazy. I cannot understand why they can get OUT so easily but to get back in they whine and pace and get me to hold the fence up to let them scoot under....I think tomorrow I'll walk away and I'd bet that they figure it out..how to get back IN.
They ain;t dumb...its much easier to get me to hold the fence up than it is to fly over....

Glad to hear that you and your drake are getting to know each other better,. once they come to know you, you;re part of their family and vice versa...they're like kids...2 or 3 yr old kids with feathers and a beak. Ciscoe is a good lookin bird !

I gotta warn you...they have "moods" as well. Buddy can be sweet as a kitten one day, and a little turd the next. One day he wants to be held and handled, next day he wants to rough-house and play nip & run games. I've learned to go along with whatever he is in the mood for, and I also learned that no matter what mood he is in, he ALWAYS wants to sit on my shoulder and hang his head.... When he's really wound up he wants to try to walk around my head, (if I hold him up front) so he can walk to the other shoulder, then across my back and return to his (my left) shoulder...sometimes he's content to sit in the same spot and just chill...

 

[duckyfromoz]

This is very common behaviour with hand raised drakes. The issue is that the see you as " part of their flock" and this is dominent / mating type of behaviour. You need to show dominance over the drake in order for him to stop attacking you in this way.

It can be done in a number of ways- such as holding him for a few minutes with his haed away from your face so he wont bite you. pick him up for a while each time you go outside and he attacks you .

Turn him upside down - when he attacks- turn him on his back- he will struggle to get back up the right way giving you time to get away from him. The drake shouldnt be left on its back for longer than a few minutes- or without supervision so that you can always ensure he does get back the right way.

Holding the beak so he cant bite doent really work well as a deterant.

It can work very quickly in some cases to change their behaviour but in others it can take a few weeks even to get them acting nice again.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Watson's "wet look" feather problem is due to clogged oil glands. The glands need to be massaged and hot compressed and massaged again. This should get them working again. Once he can get the oil to come out he can waterproof his feathers properly. I have had to flush them with a syringe before. Let me know if you want to see pics of location & flushing of their oil glands.