Hello! I have been lurking around for a while. I had a specific question and I can't get too solid of an answer. So hope someone can help.
We got ducks over summer and we have 2 Cayuga and 2 Anconas. And now they are 18 and 19 weeks old. Surprisingly, we have 3 females and 1 male (pretty sure). We ended up ordering sexed female ducks 2 Cayugas and 2 Kahaki Campbells. They are about 13 weeks now. The older ones were a little bit mean to the new ones, but we let them have time out together (supervised). Then we eventually moved them into separate pens (next to each other though) for 2 weeks. Then finally together. They have been living together for about 1 - 1.5 months now. At night they're in a pen together and during the day we let them roam our yard. There had been no issues, until today. Today, our drake has become very aggressive. It started off with him biting one of the 13-week old ducks. He would be swimming and jump out, chase her down and grab her feathers and start yanking. We intervened a little, but I know they have their pecking order. So we let them go. I was watching on the camera we have and he just would randomly get up and run and bite her. So I went to watch them outside, and he wouldn't even let her get water. She was panting. He kind of chased the other females, but not how he was chasing her. So we put him in the pen with a shelter, pool, and food and locked him up. I will also note that a few of the females would bite him when he would grab her. But then let him go after her.
I feel bad because he seems sad. He's just laying in the pool and isn't really moving at all. He was quacking a lot at first but has stopped. Is this the right move? I read a lot that said if the drake is being super aggressive, sometimes you need to separate them. I know that he may be going through hormonal changes, with his age, but I was under the impression that mating season is ending. I'm just kind of shocked because we never really had an issue, so I want to make sure I know what to do going forward or if it gets better, how to help in the future.
Sorry, this is long! Thank you!
We got ducks over summer and we have 2 Cayuga and 2 Anconas. And now they are 18 and 19 weeks old. Surprisingly, we have 3 females and 1 male (pretty sure). We ended up ordering sexed female ducks 2 Cayugas and 2 Kahaki Campbells. They are about 13 weeks now. The older ones were a little bit mean to the new ones, but we let them have time out together (supervised). Then we eventually moved them into separate pens (next to each other though) for 2 weeks. Then finally together. They have been living together for about 1 - 1.5 months now. At night they're in a pen together and during the day we let them roam our yard. There had been no issues, until today. Today, our drake has become very aggressive. It started off with him biting one of the 13-week old ducks. He would be swimming and jump out, chase her down and grab her feathers and start yanking. We intervened a little, but I know they have their pecking order. So we let them go. I was watching on the camera we have and he just would randomly get up and run and bite her. So I went to watch them outside, and he wouldn't even let her get water. She was panting. He kind of chased the other females, but not how he was chasing her. So we put him in the pen with a shelter, pool, and food and locked him up. I will also note that a few of the females would bite him when he would grab her. But then let him go after her.
I feel bad because he seems sad. He's just laying in the pool and isn't really moving at all. He was quacking a lot at first but has stopped. Is this the right move? I read a lot that said if the drake is being super aggressive, sometimes you need to separate them. I know that he may be going through hormonal changes, with his age, but I was under the impression that mating season is ending. I'm just kind of shocked because we never really had an issue, so I want to make sure I know what to do going forward or if it gets better, how to help in the future.
Sorry, this is long! Thank you!
