Duckling eating feathers

[Bubblewrap]

Hello,

I have 4 ancona duckling that are 4 weeks old. They are locked in a fenced off area in an outside run and thier area is about 8'X4'. I let them out to forage around the yard for a few hours a day. Today I found two of my duckling with bloody wing tips. When I picked them up I saw the ends had been broken of some of thier blood feathers. I observed the largest duckling attacking them and bitting at thier wings on two seperate occasions. I beleive it is picking feathers. They have duckling grower in a dish and also some food for adult ducks. I think the aggressor is a female. For now I have seperated them but I am wondering if I should ultimately kill the duckling since it displays this tendancy. I also have four adult ancona ducks 3 hens and a drake I could put the aggresive duckling in with them but they might kill it as it is a little young. I only have one run so I dont realy want to fence of another area for just this duckling. right now the area it is in is tiny.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

'Tiny' may be the problem.
What is the protein percentage of both the duckling grower and the duck food?

 

[N Good]

Hello,

I have 4 ancona duckling that are 4 weeks old. They are locked in a fenced off area in an outside run and thier area is about 8'X4'. I let them out to forage around the yard for a few hours a day. Today I found two of my duckling with bloody wing tips. When I picked them up I saw the ends had been broken of some of thier blood feathers. I observed the largest duckling attacking them and bitting at thier wings on two seperate occasions. I beleive it is picking feathers. They have duckling grower in a dish and also some food for adult ducks. I think the aggressor is a female. For now I have seperated them but I am wondering if I should ultimately kill the duckling since it displays this tendancy. I also have four adult ancona ducks 3 hens and a drake I could put the aggresive duckling in with them but they might kill it as it is a little young. I only have one run so I dont realy want to fence of another area for just this duckling. right now the area it is in is tiny.

That's tough, I'm in no way an expert on the topic but it sounds like you have done everything in your power to give them a safe and healthy environment. If this behavior continues past a day or two I would consider culling.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Was the pecking you observed before their was blood?
I’m new to ducks and I haven’t observed this with them but chickens will attack and peck more when they see blood.

 

[Bubblewrap]

They have mana pro duckling grower so it has 22% protein i am not sure of the protein content of the big ducks food but its a locally milled general flock maintenance food for waterfowl. They have mostly been eating duckling grower and whatever forage they find in the garden. There was already blood when i saw this behavior so i suppose there is a slight chance a mouse or something caused the initial injury and then the duckling was drawn to the blood but i have also seen it bite toes so i think it may simply be a naughty duck. I may try letting it hang out with the gentlest hen who is a bit broody and does not attack the duckling when put next to them. perhaps she would teach it some manners. If i do end up butchering this duckling I would ideally keep it for a bit longer so at least it reached adult size. I'll give it a scrambled egg tomorrow on the off chance its protein deficient then try letting it go back with the other supervised for a bit and see what it does.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

They are just bored and even though 8x4 seems like a lot of space, ducks seem to need more - especially mischievous ducklings. Lots of exercise, water to play in, multiple areas for food, etc will help.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Did you see the duckling attack before you noticed the blood? If you didn't it more than likely was simply a curious duckling trying to figure out why the others looked different. When a duck gets bandaged, bleeds or looks different than what the others consider "normal" any extra curious members of the flock will often go over and pick at whatever is new to them i.e the bandages, blood, etc. Even in newly hatched ducklings if one hatches with the yolk sac still visible you have to separate until it's gone otherwise the others will pick at it making it worse. It doesn't mean that they're evil ducklings just curious ones and as soon as the yolk absorbs they stop. Do you have pictures of the bloody/broken feathers? Is there anything they could have possibly hurt themselves on? Is there any way for a predator like a raccoon to reach into their run?