Fight Club for ducks!? 🤔

[JessicaB721]

Hi! So I'm having a lot of trouble with my male & female Mallard, and my female Muscovy. I have had my two Mallards since they were itty bitty; I bought them at the same time two years ago. Last year I bought a Muscovy, who was around the same age as them when I rescued her. It was extremely hard for me to get them to get along, first I started off by putting a dog pen around my Muscovy while I let her and my female Mallard get to know each other. Once they seem comfortable with each other I allow them to be together. Eventually I put my female Mallard back with my male Mallard, and I tried introducing my Muscovy and it never quite worked out. And the few other occasions I have tried, they attacked each other horribly through the dog pen. Anytime they would be near each other they would seem to be trying to fight each other to the death, except I never let it get that far because I was always right there. But from the way they act with each other, I could tell if I was not there every time they were near each other, one of them would probably be hurt very, very badly. With that said, all of my ducks stay inside at night in a makeshift pen in my laundry room. They go out early each morning and they come in whatever time the sun starts going down. With that being said, my Muscovy never goes outside since I do not have a way to keep them separated in the backyard. And she does not seem to like to go outside anyway and comes right back in on the occasions I let her go outside for a little bit before I let my Mallards out. But at the same time, I'm not good at keeping duck diapers on them. Either I'm just too ditzy to figure out how to properly put them on, or I have yet to find one that really work. And they're not cheap, so I gave up on purchasing different ones. So needless to say, all I'm doing every day is cleaning up duck poop, inside, nonstop. Does ANYONE (*pleading for help now *) have any suggestions on how I can help them all get along, so they can all sleep in the same pen at night and also spend the day outside together every day!? Thanks in advance!

 

[Isadora]

Are you at your max capacity, as far as how many ducks you can have in that space? Integration usually works a lot better if there is more than one duck being introduced at a time.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

My suggestion is to get another muscovy. Mallard derived breeds love to hang together. Muscovy are a little more independent, but they still like to be with other muscovies. The other thing that I have noticed about ducks is that there is one top hen and it sounds like both of your females want that spot.
I have watched on you tube where the ducks are housed inside at night, but then they are let out into a fenced backyard. I can't imagine having ducks inside, but I've seen it work for others.

 

[Quatie]

One thing to be aware of is Muscovy have a very different way of establishing dominance than mallard breeds. The jump on each other's backs, yank on feathers and sometimes pulling them out. It can look very nasty and dramatic, but in reality no one is really harmed. If you are not seeing blood, then you likely need to let it play out. Muscovy and mallards do not speak the same language and have to learn to communicate with one another. Muscovy are not always the best at sharing space even with plenty of room. The times mine are fiesty when I put them away and harassing others, they settle down each night fairly quickly.

Unless you see blood being drawn I would let them share the area during the day. Have them seperated at night where they can look but not touch. After a couple weeks let them share the night space together. Any time ducks share a coop together the first night, it is a stressful experience. They have to go through it to successfully integrate into a flock.

It is good point that the laundry room may be too small for the ducks. They should have at least 12sq ft at night for 3 ducks.

I also agree another Muscovy duck would be a good idea since they are very different ducks. Muscovy are happy to socialize with mallards, but they prefer another Muscovy.