Duck Bullying? And a few questions

[nao57]

So...had some duck bullying questions.

There is no thread on duck specific bullying, though there are some for chickens. The other threads talked about the treatment for bullying to be isolation. But I had some other things I wanted to ask in relation to it.

Unfortunately, the ducklings are only about 6 weeks, so the drake feathers haven't shown yet. I don't know which are males and females.

Is it possible that duck bullying can be either from males or females both? And is it always towards the same sex rivals?

How do you catch the one causing it, before the others jump in on it, when you can't always be out in the pen?

And is it more likely to happen around specific times of day? Like before feeding, or after feeding? (Not sure which...) It seems like I'd want to cull the offender not the victim. And I'm curious if actually removing the offender or the alpha leader in the flock (if there is one...) would have the same affect as the victims isolation treatment, if its used before the others join in on the behavior? (And I wonder if the answer to that could vary with different age groups of a flock? Mine are 6 weeks old.)

It sounds interesting doesn't it?

Some of it seems to be psychology. And in humans if you had a group of bullies in school and suddenly the leader was gone, there would likely be an adjustment period while the survivors of the bully group figured out who was going to be the next boss. This makes me wonder if using isolation on either a leader or offender would work also.

This was brought about by coming out to my duck pen and seeing that one of the ducks has a patch of feathers gone that looks like a tiny bald spot on the right rear side of the flank. I'd previously thought it was just an odd growth of the down leaving and other feathers not being in yet. But now its starting to look like something else. It doesn't yet have any blood. But from reading your other posts it looks like waiting till blood is too late to do anything.

Sorry I don't have a cell phone. So pics aren't really possible.

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Side issue, I woke up this morning and my egg incubator got unplugged last night. It either got unplugged or was accidentally kicked lose. I have no idea how long it was undone but probably about 4 to 6 hours. I'm thinking it doesn't look good. Another family member had unplugged the box already to clean the room it was in, a few days ago, and that was for probably 2 or 3 hours. These were supposed to be runner eggs, which I don't have.

Having a lot of stuff go wrong is frustrating.

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Thanks for any thoughts or advise on these points.

Also, they've been pretty quiet so far, except at feeding time.

When do they start to make noise?

And is there a recommended number of ducks to not go over to keep the noise down?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How old are these duckling? What breeds? How are you keeping them? Feeding them?

More information is needed. Pictures would help.

Ducklings can outgrow their down before feathers start to come in.

 

[nao57]

Well 4 are ...I think they look like Peking (these have the orange look to their bills and feet, plus being white). 3 are smaller and look like what I'm guessing with no experience to be (light brown) 3/4 khaki campbells. (They look lighter colored than the other khaki campbells I see in videos, but they have darker bills than the others. When they were chicks they looked yellow at birth instead of brown, unlike others peoples videos. So this puzzled me. Is it possible for Khakis to be yellow chicks instead of brown chics? All videos I see so far of Khaki ducklings are brown fluff).

6 1/2 weeks old each.

Feeding them mixed meals of chick starter, swiss chard, and runny wet oatmeal cooked but not hot, and greens.

Right now they are outside; thank goodness. Until 5.5 weeks I had them in the basement because it was freezing and still getting snow out.

I was feeding them 3 times a day, probably more than normal people would.

The one area I don't have control of is that I have awful respiratory problems and that makes it hard for me to get up in the morning and makes feeding them at the same time every day quite challenging for me, and almost impossible.

Thanks.

I'll try to see if I can get a way of doing pics.

Its kind of weird but after discovering ducks, I have no interest in chickens. Does that happen to a lot of people? Ducks are just way more fun.

 

[Miss Lydia]

First of all they don't need anything but their starter. No need to cook oatmeal for them they get all they need in their starter. Greens etc are all treats including oatmeal. And they need to free feed in all daylight hours. At night you can take food and water away so they don't trash their coop. They are old enough now. If in a pen make a simple cover so their feed stays dry. Having food all the time may cut down on bullying. What size pen are you keeping them in? boredom is another reason for bullying. If you can hang a head of cabbage out for them that can keep them entertained. Pool or water containers all water fowl love to play in water. I've never had a duck bully another to the point of pulling out feathers except when I kept one than one Muscovy drake. My Muscovy females will pick on each other when hormones are high but no issues with injuries. You can try removing the perpetrator after you figure out who it is, that usually stirs up the pecking order and when he/she gets put back with the flock they aren't high man on totem pole any longer. You could also remove the one being bullied and place a few in with this one and see if you can catch the culprit that way. Just keep rotating until you nab the one that gets it started.