Female mounting other females?

[nettie]

Well, my boy duck Victor turned out to be a girl duck. lol. My brown runner Ming Mei, who we knew was a girl, has always seemed to be more fiesty than the other. She's kicks out Victor from where she wants t sit, pushes him/her (lol) away from food, steals treats faster, etc... But i saw an interesting behavior today...

Victor (is is infact a girl, despite the lack of a name change) was mounting mingmei in the tub today. They've been mostly inside and getting pampered after that whole egg binding prolem we had earlier this week. They've been getting nice long warm bathes inside. When the water was about 5 inches high, Victor kept jumping on Ming Mei's back pushing her under water. I scolded Vic for it and watched them. It seems once the waer is high enough for their feet not to touch, they don't so it any more.

Any reason why a less dominate female would mount the more dominant female in water only?

 

[unionwirewoman]

Just a dominance change . You will see it in any animal over certain amount of time . Scolding doesn't work....if it did my hens would have been laying more when I threatened the stew pot !

 

[Ducklove334]

I saw this with my mallards the other day, it was right after one of the hens got bred by a drake, another hen mounted her and she was like

...it's the first time I'd seen that.

 

[nettie]

i was just a little worried since the one mounting is huge for a runner... Not skinny or upright. Vic's gotta be at least 4 1/2 or 5 pounds. Ming Mei is more like a runner, very thin and usually upright... she can't be more than 3 1/2 pounds. This is why we originally thought Vic was a boy, since he's soo much bigger... But no, it turned out Vic's just a big girl. I'm just worried Vic will mount ming mei in the tub/water and since ming mei is smaller, she'll go underwater and possible drown. Si i've been watching them. Vic does get off and swim away when i reach for em.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Sounds like the kind of size difference between my Chocolate Runner Hen and my Fawn and White Drakes. She does just fine.

 

[agnes_day]

just a thought....isnt everyone glad that people arent like that?

 

[nettie]

Dances with ducks! exactly! Your ducks looks exactly like mine. The size difference was the main reason i thought my Victor was a boy. But he laid eggs, lol and does that head bobbing thing now.... I wonder why there is such a size difference... My brown hen looks just like yours!

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I thought the same thing about the size difference too. But now after I seeing photos of yours I'm thinking it's a difference in the strain of Runner rather than the sex. I should try to find a photo of a Chocolate drake.

I wrote to Holderread once and in his reply he mentioned other types of runners are better egg layers than Chocolates. I read Fawn and Whites are better layers. You have both, maybe you can let us know about that eventually. The difference in a strain of duck can be a big deal.

 

[nettie]

that's must be it... It does seem like vic lays more regularly. Ming lays almost everyday... she skips when she feels like it. lol.

The size difference must be why there's munting going on. Ming is very dominant in other respects... She's always kicking Vic out of this little dog carrier i put in their pen downstairs (they both fit in it, but ming will sit in the middle of the front and push Vic out of the way when he's trying to go in... lol.

Vic must just be trying to get some respect... by attempting to rape her sister.

guuh! lol...

I'll just have to keep an eye on them when they are in thye tub to make sure M ing doesn't get stuck under water

 

[Wifezilla]

It is a pecking order thing. Janet (my Khaki) does it to Lana (the Buff). And Lana does it to Chrissy (the runner).

When I first introduced Lana to the flock, SHE was the leader, but it didn't take long for Janet to decide she didn't like that. Janet is Jack's favorite, so I am sure that is where some of her status comes from.