Duck with Anxiety

[MerryFeather]

I have 7 laying ducks that are around 8 months old. We decided in March we wanted to get a male so we could eventually hatch our own ducks to keep our laying flock going. The male's box friend died during shipping and his replacement friend also had a terrible time with the USPS. Only one female survived after arriving late and she was very weak for awhile. So the male was raised alone for 2 weeks while we tried to get him company. After 4 weeks he was able to be placed with the blue swedish female who was a week younger. Abner (the male) and Alma (his Blue Swedish female) have become very close even though we handled them a lot as ducklings.
At 8 weeks old they moved out to the shack with the other ladies (in a separate space but they could see each other). They had supervised free range time together but spent the days apart from the main group so they could warm up to each other. I was very worried that the 8 month old ducks would pick on Abner and Alma and they wouldn't be safe. But the opposite happened. Abner runs the older ladies off and keeps them from the food and water often. Alma started copying his habit of nipping at the other ducks to chase them away. None are ever injured but they are not making a good impression.
I hoped that time would calm them down and all would be friends but it has been 3 or so weeks. One of my 8 month old ladies stress quacks every time Abner and Alma are by her and it is a lot. So much that she starts loosing her voice. She gets fluffy and shrinks her head down. They are all together during the day now and Porgy is still stressed. How can I help them all get along? Will this eventually work itself out? They are still separated at night by hardware cloth barrier so I know all the ladies can get access to food and water without Abner getting in the way.

 

[peeper89]

he sad that terrible maybe he get better @chickentrains @EverythingDucks @TheOddOneOut @HappyDuckie can help you

 

[chickentrains]

I don't own ducks

@Isaac 0 @Miss Lydia also might know.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Maybe they should be separated from the flock.

 

[HappyDuckie]

I would keep them separated until they are a little older. That may help.

 

[Weeg]

The duck that is "loosing" her voice and is squatting and fluffing up is broody. It's likely because you recently introduced a male to the flock. She's quacking because she's trying to get attention from the drake rather than stress. Watch for her to start sitting on eggs. If you want her to sit and hatch just let her be, but if you need to break her I can give you ideas as well.

 

[Weeg]

For the bullying, put out multiple feeders and waterers, and make sure they have plenty of room to escape each other. Is it just Abner thats causing the problem? Chasing them around etc? If so, I think its mating behavior. He's the man of the house now, and is expressing his dominance over the females.
Same thing is happening with my drakes right now as its mating season, and the drakes tend to be more bossy, and want to do the humpty dumpty more often. Have you seen him mating them?

 

[MerryFeather]

For the bullying, put out multiple feeders and waterers, and make sure they have plenty of room to escape each other. Is it just Abner thats causing the problem? Chasing them around etc? If so, I think its mating behavior. He's the man of the house now, and is expressing his dominance over the females.
Same thing is happening with my drakes right now as its mating season, and the drakes tend to be more bossy, and want to do the humpty dumpty more often. Have you seen him mating them?

He chases them off from the water and food. Except for his girl that he was raised with. He was only 8 weeks old when it started. He is only 11 weeks old now. I didn't think it would be mating behavior so young. And the older one that is quacking does it as she is running off from him. Could that still be her wanting to mate?

 

[Weeg]

He chases them off from the water and food. Except for his girl that he was raised with. He was only 8 weeks old when it started. He is only 11 weeks old now. I didn't think it would be mating behavior so young. And the older one that is quacking does it as she is running off from him. Could that still be her wanting to mate?

Ya, that is pretty young still. I would just put out multiple feeders and waterers and see if anything changes. With chickens, you can separate the bully in a no see no touch area for a few days to lower them on the pecking order, but I don't know how that would work for ducks.
Can you get a picture/video of the possibly broody female? To upload a video, you have to post it to Youtube or another video platform then post the link here.

 

[MerryFeather]

Ya, that is pretty young still. I would just put out multiple feeders and waterers and see if anything changes. With chickens, you can separate the bully in a no see no touch area for a few days to lower them on the pecking order, but I don't know how that would work for ducks.
Can you get a picture/video of the possibly broody female? To upload a video, you have to post it to Youtube or another video platform then post the link here.

I caught a tiny bit of it on a video yesterday but it is usually much louder and it happens all day long. I will try to get a better video. I will link the one I have. Porgy is the Buff Duck with her tail towards the camera and she is happily drilling away until Abner and his lady Alma show up and the older ladies leave.