Drakes fighting

[lene_leentje]

So we adopted 4 drakes last spring which were claimed to be 1 year old: 2 pekings and 2 Indian runners.
We had some trouble during mating season where one of the Indians, Obi, was the victim of several vicious attacks by the others who tried to, we'll, rape him but he himself was no cutie either when his hormones awakened. So we know how trying to mate looks and in June it suddenly stopped and they got along just fine.
Lately they have been showing weird behavior: Obi, who seemed to be on the bottom of the hierarchy, seemed to be trying to take over the flock from alpha male Ani. He chased the smallest Peking, Jules, attacked Ani and so they have been running around the garden for the past three-four days. It became so bad we separated Jules from the rest because he tried to get away from the others but they kept joining him (since they always want to be together). Jules seemed overstressed and in desperate need of rest.
This afternoon there was an improvement: Ani seemed to have won and regained his status as the alpha male, keeping Obi away from the rest of the flock and things quieted down.
But when we put them in their night coop, it started all over again and when they went after Jules, we let him out so the three of them could fight it out. They've barely slept in the past few days, just a little nap here and there (at night I'm not sure what happens of course). No time for foraging, just a little grooming and preening, just a little amount of food that has been eaten...

We're trying to understand what's going on and what we can do to make it stop.... They seemed so happy before. Does anyone recognize this behavior and knows what to do?

Warmest regards from Belgium!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They have sexually matured. Even without females to fight over they will still fight during the breeding season for dominance.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yep sexually mature. And a real pain. Anyway you can separate these boys into their own space by using fencing? We had a member who did this with his 4 drake 2 pekins 2 Indian Runners during spring and summer then in the fall let them all be together again. Some type of fencing where they can all still be together but not be able to rape or beat each other up. You'll have to use something else for inside their sleeping quarter to separate but it can be done. When I first started with Muscovy in 2004 mine came from the river where they were let go. before I could rescue one drake killed another. We could see this happening but the banks were so steep we couldn't get down to stop it, looked like he was raping the poor guy. Died from internal injuries I would say. Not saying this could happen with your but just the stress could cause sickness.
I hope you can figure out something.
So awesome of you to take these drakes in.