Drake charging away hen

[arrowti]

We originally had 8 ducks, 2 pekin males, 1 pekin female, 1 cayuga male, and 4 cayuga females. The pekin males were simply too sexually aggressive and were beating on the cayuga females for the most part, causing injuries and leaving them balding on the beck, neck, and wings. Today we brought the two males to get processed.

We expected a couple problems with the single pekin female, but didn't expect the cayuga drake to chase her away from the other females. He won't let her swim in the pool, eat, drink or lay near the other females. Her cayuga friend will often go over to her to lay down, but for the most part, she is lying alone in the bushes. She is eating and drinking when she can, so I don't think she's too upset about her missing friends.

The cayuga drake is normally very calm and gentle and never saw him display any aggressive behaviour towards her before, although she was most often with the pekin drakes and her cayuga female friends. The females are perfectly fine with her and are not in any way aggressive or picking on her.

I'm worried that he will continue to chase her away and she will no longer be able to be with any of the other ducks. We don't want to bring him in as well because we want at least one drake for our ducks since they get nervous without one around, but aren't sure if he will ever accept her.

Would it help if we added a couple more pekin females to the crowd, so she will have some other ducks of the same breed around her? I didn't expect such intolerance between the breeds, but it seems our drake has a bit of an issue with the ducks that don't look like him.

What do you think we should do? Do you think he'll calm down and accept her over time? It's only been the morning, but know how important it is for ducks to have social interaction and do not want her to get hurt. He hasn't actually hurt her yet, and only charges at her and then leaves when she's a far enough distance. Our ducks are in a large pasture shared with our chickens, that spans across a large part of our open yard with a pool, the barn, the former pig pasture, and a section of the woods that they enjoy going to. I know there is plenty of space, but I might consider bringing in another kiddie pool to give her at least the chance to swim somewhere without getting chased off.

Any advice? Our ducks are all over a year old, by the way.

 

[sourland]

Give them time to work things out. He is still associating her with the aggressive Pekin drakes.

 

[arrowti]

Thank you for your response! I hope so, however I am concerned about one more thing.

They have a duck house they all get put in at night, and although there is no late, the peking males and cayuga male would always fight. Should I expect him to attack her since she has nowhere to run to? Should she be separated (maybe with another female for company) into another place for a few days until he's no longer going after her?

As of now, she is only able to eat, drink, or swim when she is not within his direct line of sight. I am not sure if he would be aggressive in the coop since he has never threatened any of the hens before.

 

[sourland]

I would put them all into the duck house tonight and then monitor his behavior. If it becomes necessary you could then put her and one of her 'friends' in another place. Try providing multiple feed and water stations in separate locations so that she is able to eat and drink enough.

What might work even better would be to remove him from the flock at night leaving the Pekin with them. Return him to the flock in the morning and monitor his behavior.

 

[arrowti]

Unfortunately, he did start chomping on her neck and head and back as soon as I shut the door, so I put him in a dog-crate. I decided the 'look but don't touch idea' for chickens may work well here, and placed the crate back in the coop so he could see his ladies and the pekin female (I call her Fatty) together and hopefully begin to associate her as another hen, not the aggressive males. She's a sweetheart, so I wouldn't think it would take so long.

I will say I was surprised he attacked her. I pick him up and he doesn't even bite. He struggles a little, of course, but you can place your finger in front of his bill and he simply pushes his face against or, or rubs his head on your neck. Maybe it's the 'I'm king of the flock" hormones raging through him now in regards to her, but I'll see how he is when we let them out in the morning. (He was, after all, the outcast of the flock, not the king, when the two pekins were here).

Thanks for your advice!

 

[sourland]

Don't expect him to change his behavior over night. It will take a while for him to figure out that she is NOT the aggressive white drakes.