Dual purpose duck flock; effects of culling etc

[FrankiesquarteracreFarm]

So I have a dual purpose small gang of ducks ( ancona appleyard cross ) our initial plan was lay eggs with benefits of meat from males. We got a straight run of 5.... 4 drakes and 1 duck later we are adding to our flock at the same time as subtracting.

We processed our first male 2 days ago and added a 1 yr old khaki campbell and her Rouen mix mate to the flock the next day.

I'm noticing extremely interesting and borderline aggressive dynamics from my immature (10 wk) original 4.

I guess my question is two fold; how does killing a sibling affect the ducks around it, as I'll be repeating this process a few more times. And also is there an optimal time or way to do it. I am hoping to add another laying or point of lay duck at some point in the future but we will see.

 

[FuzzyOwlFeet]

I bet the odd behavior is due to the new additions. That most likely upset them more than losing a member of the flock.

My only suggestion is perhaps catching the duck you want to kill the night before so there's less chasing and stressing everyone out, then slaughter it away from the flock so they don't associate dead ducks with you. I doubt they would, but you never know.