Duckling Suddenly Scared of Us

[ForestAlice]

Hey everyone! Our duckling is nearing the 15 week mark and for the past couple of days his behavior has changed. He’s been abnormally skittish when we take him out of his cage making it very difficult for us to put him back in when we’re done cleaning and letting him stretch. It seems to all be entirely based around our hands and reaching towards him. Whenever we make any move to touch or pick him up, he runs away from us as quickly as possible. I have a few theories as to why he’s been behaving more skittishly than normal but ultimately I’m not sure and would love to hear your experiences

1. He seems to lose some of his feathers everyday so is it possible that he’s very slowly molting and therefore doesn’t want to be touched due to the sensitivity of the molt? Our chickens get quite grumpy when they’re molting and then go back to normal when they’re done.
2. This is just some weird duckling phase that he’ll grow out of.

That’s all I can really think of. Ultimately I just want to make sure that there isn’t any underlying illness or injury that could have caused this change. Are there any physical signs to look out for that indicate pain in ducklings? His droppings and everything seem normal, he flies and swims with no issue, it’s just the sudden behavioral changes that are unusual. There hasn’t been any change to his cage or surroundings either, we’ve been keeping him in his cage more often than usual for the past few weeks until we can clip his flight feathers but that’s it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My guess is he's sexually maturing, and his hormones are kicking in. Can he exercise as he needs to? Can you herd him instead of picking him up? Do you have any other ducks?

 

[ForestAlice]

My guess is he's sexually maturing, and his hormones are kicking in. Can he exercise as he needs to? Can you herd him instead of picking him up? Do you have any other ducks?

Just wanted to let you know that we made some changes to our post so that it made more sense. We’re less worried about the aggression and much more concerned about the skittishness... We’ve been letting him exercise more, but we don’t have any other ducks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In poultry getting grabbed isn't a good thing. Many can get used to it, but it's normal for them to run from it. I've always found it best to train them to be herded, than to catch them constantly.

 

[Maddog_photog]

I find it slightly humorous, and maybe helpful to you, but my dux are absolutely 100% TERRIFIED of me when I am not wearing the baseball cap my mother gave me for Christmas. I cannot emphasize their terror of me without my cap. Once it’s back on, we’re friends again.