drakes fighting

[duckmom216]

Hi, recently my 3 drakes have been fighting randomly and I’m not sure what to do or when it’ll end. I have 3 drakes shown in the video. No hens. Any advice would be great!
(I broke up the fight and separated right after the video)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Best thing to do is separate each one in their own fenced area until fall. Put them in dog crates inside the coop
@ruthhope can give you info she has a drake flock. Hormones are running high right now. How are they without a pool? We had another member who had all drakes and he had each boy in their own fencing over spring and summer still next to each other so they wouldn’t be lonely.

 

[ruthhope]

Best thing to do is separate each one in their own fenced area until fall. Put them in dog crates inside the coop
@ruthhope can give you info she has a drake flock. Hormones are running high right now. How are they without a pool? We had another member who had all drakes and he had each boy in their own fencing over spring and summer still next to each other so they wouldn’t be lonely.

Naughty boys! That doesn't look too serious--more like lack of females to mate so trying to mount a drake instead.i find the squabbling decreases each year.it also varies from day to day depending on who feels he has to exert his dominance on any particular day. As hormone levels start to fall from August, squabbling should reduce and the squabbles will subside

Squabbling drakes are best managed by separation. My yard is big enough and with lots of shrubbery for any boy being picked on to stay away from his tormentor. At night, I have my Pekin drake in a dog crate in the coop to stop him being bullied although he instigates bullying by biting one of my muscovy drakes. The muscovy have pecking order squabbles but not badly enough to warrant separating them. If there was any sign of lost feathers or injuries, I would partition the coop, with a temporary dog pen, into individual compartments. I needed to do that last year to protect a muscovy who was unwell and being bullied.

@duckmom216 are yours squabbling in the coup or just on the wading pool? If they are fighting at night, I would partition your coup temporarily or use a dogcrate for the most pugnacious one to sleep in. Can you make separate but side by side runs so that the boys cannot fight during the day but can see and talk to eachother?

 

[shanlee1993]

my two drakes were raised together and established a pecking order with no issues. I had to separate one hen to treat wet feather and put her. Hosea mate in with her to lessen stress. After five days of separation we let them integrate and my drakes immediately went after each other for about an hour. We intervened but I want my happy family back. Will keeping e drake’s separated cause more aggression?

 

[ruthhope]

my two drakes were raised together and established a pecking order with no issues. I had to separate one hen to treat wet feather and put her. Hosea mate in with her to lessen stress. After five days of separation we let them integrate and my drakes immediately went after each other for about an hour. We intervened but I want my happy family back. Will keeping e drake’s separated cause more aggression?

How many females do you have, @shanlee1993 ?

My drakes are beginning to get "frisky" already for the next breeding season, and it's not even December. Yours may be feeling the same mating urges. That will cause friction between your drakes that could easily escalate to full blown aggression if you don't have enough females. We generally recommend 4 or 5 females to each drake as the minimum sex ratio although there is variation. My son's drake was happy for years with the 2 females he grew up with. But he's still happy now he has 4 females!!

If you have only the 2 females you mention, then that is the problem with your drakes and they will not settle down into one big happy family until you get 6 more females. Alternatively, you have to keep your drakes separately from the females

 

[shanlee1993]

How many females do you have, @shanlee1993 ?

My drakes are beginning to get "frisky" already for the next breeding season, and it's not even December. Yours may be feeling the same mating urges. That will cause friction between your drakes that could easily escalate to full blown aggression if you don't have enough females. We generally recommend 4 or 5 females to each drake as the minimum sex ratio although there is variation. My son's drake was happy for years with the 2 females he grew up with. But he's still happy now he has 4 females!!

If you have only the 2 females you mention, then that is the problem with your drakes and they will not settle down into one big happy family until you get 6 more females. Alternatively, you have to keep your drakes separately from the females

I have a good ratio of females that’s not the issue. They’ve all been living in harmony for a few months NO ISSUES AT ALL until I separated one drake and his hen for a week to watch and treat wet feather. When I put them together they started fighting like they’ve never done. I separated both drakes from hens. No fighting yet. So I guess we’ll see.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I have a good ratio of females that’s not the issue. They’ve all been living in harmony for a few months NO ISSUES AT ALL until I separated one drake and his hen for a week to watch and treat wet feather. When I put them together they started fighting like they’ve never done. I separated both drakes from hens. No fighting yet. So I guess we’ll see.

You might have to separate the drakes at times. When I was breeding ducks starting in early winter until end spring I kept my drakes separated besides putting in my one at a time for breeding. I am down to only a pair of ducks right now and my drake is getting to be an old man at 5. He is now perfectly content with just his one girl, but a few years ago he would get feisty and have to be separated when his hormones got high.

 

[ruthhope]

I have a good ratio of females that’s not the issue. They’ve all been living in harmony for a few months NO ISSUES AT ALL until I separated one drake and his hen for a week to watch and treat wet feather. When I put them together they started fighting like they’ve never done. I separated both drakes from hens. No fighting yet. So I guess we’ll see.

Good to know you have more females than mentioned in you original post. I think that the boys are fighting now is coincidental to the two being separated and reintroduced. It's the time of year that drake hormones re beginning to rise. Separate the drakes as advised until they are feeling less combative.

 

[Aintnoduckdog]

Help! I have three silver apple yard drakes (wanted hens but here I am..) and now that winter has set in, they are so aggressive. Attacking each other, attacking me, chasing my son, attacking my dog, and my chickens. I’m wondering what to do! Someone needs to guide me here please! I’ve read and read but no solid answers really. Separating all of them isn’t going to work and will this get better come spring and the hormones get worse?! Any help would be greatly appreciated.