ruthhope
Free Ranging
My drakes are squabbling a lot but with my original three -- two muscovy rescues and a pekin rescue -- it's just asserting pecking order by occasional jabbing at each other and no one gets hurt. The muscovies are doing well not being provoked by the pekin who pulls out the chest feathers of one of the muscovies--who is being a really good boy, mostly, and not retaliating. The pekin is in a dogcrate inside the coop at night to make sure he gets food and water. Excluding him from food and water is the muscovy preferred modus operandi to demonstrate dominance.
My big problem is with the most recently acquired year old pekin drake. I have had him for 5 nearly 6 weeks and he is non-stop attacking the alpha male muscovy (not the one with the lost feathers from his chest). He also has a dog crate in the coop at night to stop him fighting with the muscovies. The aggressive pekin got badly injured when alpha male muscovy pulled out his tail feathers. Pekin had to stay in the coop--outside his dog crate--for three days until his red raw wound had healed over. But ever since, he has been nonstop going for the aloha male muscovy's throat when ever he is out of the coop. I spend 30-60 minutes sitting with them every morning supervising the aggressive pekin while he is out. But I end up just holding him next to me as it is non-stop aggression. I do leave them to it sometimes. Alpha male does his best to ignore the attacks but within a few minutes, he loses patience and fights back. He doesn't just stand on the pekin, he pecks the pekin quite viciously. That is when I have to put the Pekin back in the coop.
If I leave alpha male muscovy in the coop, the aggressive pekin just fights with the other two drakes. I am finding it quite tiresome, but all I can do is keep separating the aggressive pekin for his own safety. Roll on August when drake hormones begin to wane!
BTW, The aggressive pekin is as sweet as any of them with me. He has a long history of attacking my son's feet. But he has never shown me any aggression. the photo shows the plucked chest of my muscovy drake.
My big problem is with the most recently acquired year old pekin drake. I have had him for 5 nearly 6 weeks and he is non-stop attacking the alpha male muscovy (not the one with the lost feathers from his chest). He also has a dog crate in the coop at night to stop him fighting with the muscovies. The aggressive pekin got badly injured when alpha male muscovy pulled out his tail feathers. Pekin had to stay in the coop--outside his dog crate--for three days until his red raw wound had healed over. But ever since, he has been nonstop going for the aloha male muscovy's throat when ever he is out of the coop. I spend 30-60 minutes sitting with them every morning supervising the aggressive pekin while he is out. But I end up just holding him next to me as it is non-stop aggression. I do leave them to it sometimes. Alpha male does his best to ignore the attacks but within a few minutes, he loses patience and fights back. He doesn't just stand on the pekin, he pecks the pekin quite viciously. That is when I have to put the Pekin back in the coop.
If I leave alpha male muscovy in the coop, the aggressive pekin just fights with the other two drakes. I am finding it quite tiresome, but all I can do is keep separating the aggressive pekin for his own safety. Roll on August when drake hormones begin to wane!
BTW, The aggressive pekin is as sweet as any of them with me. He has a long history of attacking my son's feet. But he has never shown me any aggression. the photo shows the plucked chest of my muscovy drake.
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