Duck killing chickens ???

[cmbchickens]

I have one male and one female peking duck. I have about 60 chickens. I think my male duck is killing chickens by trying to mount. I found one dead several days ago wedged underneath a wood box, like it was trying to get away from something but no puncture wounds, comb and ears purple, a definite mystery. Then a couple days later I caught the male duck trying to mount a hen, holding onto the neck and trying to mount. Now I've seen the duck do this many times, and when I'm around, I knock him off, but I've never had any fatalities from this. I've never had any chicken deaths that weren't obvious of what caused it, like a sickness or a neighbor dog. In this case, when I knocked the duck off, the chicken still laid there and didn't hop right up, and not like they do sometimes when they're staying in the submissive position, but laying down sideways and the comb and ears purple and she was limp, toes curled under. But I picked her up, separated her for a day and she was fine by the next day. Then yesterday, found one laying over in some hay, not moving, distressed, but not dead and when I separated it to see if it recovered, it was back to itself within 20-30 minutes. And then finally today, I went out in the afternoon and found another dead hen blue comb and ears. Our LGD was close by but just watching. She did that when owls got some of my guineas, like, guarded the body until I removed it. Again no puncture wounds or really missing or wet feathers. It was a nice big fat healthy hen. So I feel like I'm 97% sure it's the duck, but I just wanted to see if this is more common than I was aware, and thereby making me 100% sure. I have since moved the male and female duck to a back pen, to the "goat" pen, where only a few of the "wily" type chickens go, not the docile red hens. I doubt they'll be caught by the duck. But if I find a dead chicken back there I guess I'll know for sure!!! Just wanted to see what y'all's thoughts on it were. Thanks.

 

[Pyxis]

Drakes can and do injure and kill hens while trying to mate. They have anatomical differences; the drake has a long corkscrew penis, and hens are not designed to mate with such a thing. This means when he mates with them he is doing internal damage. It's good that you separated them from your hens and you need to keep them separated - and preferably also get some more female ducks for your male, as you should have 3 to 4 females per drake.

 

[cmbchickens]

Thank you! So your theory is that perhaps they are being killed by the duck's "member" causing injury as opposed to cutting off the windpipe while trying to maintain control of the hen?

 

[Pyxis]

Yes. It's not likely he's somehow cutting off their air supply by holding the feathers on the back of the neck. Additionally if he's a big drake he could be injuring them with his sheer size and bulk while on top of them, but strangling them is not really likely.

 

[chickens really]

My friends Drake was swinging the chicken Hens around by their necks and tossing them through the air.....Also he was trying to breed them.......sorry he killed some Hens.....

My Ducks hate my Chickens.....

Cheers!

 

[tamiep]

My stupid drake kept picking on a certain hen. I started separating him but then decided to let him out and see how he does. He knew he wasn't supposed to bother her because when he'd see me, he'd leave her alone. She had been doing pretty well staying away from him, but then today I found her dead in the pool. I tried to revive her, but it didn't work. I feel horrible.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am very sorry. This time of year drakes can be crazy.

 

[johnsonfarm]

I know this is an older thread, but I just came across this same thing. My drake has been chasing the chickens around but I haven't seen him actively try to mount a hen or ever make contact for that matter. Today however, shortly after we let him and the two female ducks out, my son discovered one of our bantam hens lying limp on the ground, just like you described. We never heard or saw anything, she's still alive but it doesn't look good. No puncture wounds, a little wet but it did just rain and the grass is wet. She's breathing funny and barely opens her eyes, can't hold her head up.
We put her in a nestbox with fresh straw so she's comfortable to see if she recovers.
I'm thinking the drake will be moving on to a new home...

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I know this is an older thread, but I just came across this same thing. My drake has been chasing the chickens around but I haven't seen him actively try to mount a hen or ever make contact for that matter. Today however, shortly after we let him and the two female ducks out, my son discovered one of our bantam hens lying limp on the ground, just like you described. We never heard or saw anything, she's still alive but it doesn't look good. No puncture wounds, a little wet but it did just rain and the grass is wet. She's breathing funny and barely opens her eyes, can't hold her head up.
We put her in a nestbox with fresh straw so she's comfortable to see if she recovers.
I'm thinking the drake will be moving on to a new home...

Sorry to hear that. I keep my ducks separate from the chickens - especially my drake. Some days, I think it would be easier to just have all females so that I don't have to worry about this same thing happening if the drake ever got a hold of a chicken.

 

[Shipgurl1]

I learned from a young age on the farm, you have to keep ducks and chickens separated unless the roosters and drakes are both unruly. We had an agreement, as long as the meat wasn't damaged, it ended in the freezer. Why give someone else an animal that has a condition of hurting chickens if they are living in the same pan and run?