Female Duck at the top of the pecking order?

[rfducky]

Hi everyone, I’m posting because I’ve had my Muscovy ducks for over a year now (1 male and 1 female) and they’ve always gotten along very well. My male started to molt all of his feathers a couple weeks ago. Suddenly my female decided to attack him. Now she chases after him and he runs away from her very frightened. Especially in the area of our house that we let them into. However when she’s in her cage they’ll sit next to each other and keep each other’s company. When their outside they’re usually ok. They’ll walk next to each other and play for the most part but she will try to go after him randomly. I thought maybe he might be sick why she’s doing this but he has no signs of sickness and just went to the vet a month ago and came back very healthy. He’s still eating, drinking, playing, nothing out of the norm. Has anyone experienced a situation like this before?

 

[casportpony]

Hi there, his caruncles look very pale/orange, so I think maybe he is sick. Does he really look like the picture, or is the picture making him look that way?

 

[rfducky]

Hi there, his caruncles look very pale/orange, so I think maybe he is sick. Does he really look like the picture, or is the picture making him look that way?

The picture makes it look a little lighter than what it actually is but I did notice that they did get paler than normal and it’s a sign of anemia. I feed them mazuri which was recommended by the vet. I think he was just not getting enough protein during his molt because I’ve been giving them some live fish once every few days and since I started that it seems like the color has been returning