Drake Mounting Teenage Duckling

[telandra2]

My anacona drake has suddenly started trying to mount my teenage duckling (hatched 3/22.) Its back and the back of its head are all bloody. S/he is still getting feathers in so there is next to no protection. 80% of the time Bob is an excellent drake doing the head bobbing, lots of splashing flirting before mounting one of the girls. He has 4 other girlfriends to chase so I have no idea what suddenly set him off. Teenage puberty getting him riled up? It doesn't look like dominace to me since he was balancing doing the on-land mating thing and not head grabbing and pecking.

I separated them, but any tips to curb this behavior? The young'uns aren't happy being split from the flock. They are imprinted but have been living fine with the other ducks for a few weeks now.

 

[sourland]

Separation until the ducklings are more mature is realistically the only solution as I am assuming you want to keep the drake.

 

[neo71665]

That time of the year