Well yesterday they just started picking on this one poor drake. I have 4 drakes & girl, mallards. Is this a pecking order thing or does Miss Quacks doesn't want this one around??? They have been running around the yard chasing him. They just bite the poor drake on the neck & beating him up with their wings. I did seperate them last night & today. Any advice???
First of all you need to get rid of all but one of the drakes. They're apt to breed your poor girl to death if you don't!! Drakes fight a lot...especially when there aren't enough hens to go around.
Thanks yall I guess I was more worried about Miss Quacks getting hurt, than thinking about the drakes. I'm going to have to get hubby to build a seperate pen & get some girls for my drakes.I just couldn't get rid of them.Call me a sucker,lol.
I have 3 drakes only. Not by choice...they were all rescues. And they would kill each other if they were not separated. This is a relatively new phenomenon and it seems to coincide with the winter of their first year. I have researched this a bit because it frustrates me and is a lot of work to keep them safe from each other. It seems that in the winter they feel that they have to compete for food (although each gets the exact same thing and plenty of greens) They do this in the wild to survive and maybe it is an instinct that was passed on to the domestic duck. Add to this their frustration that they have no one to mate with and you have some really dicey duck politics. I am not actively searching for mates for any of them because undoubtedly, I will be receiving more rescues this spring/summer. Why does a creature with the sweetest face have to be so mean???
xke4, that's interesting.We live on a bayou & I promise you they are only two wild female mallards to atleast 20 or more drakes. I feel sorry for those girls come spring time. But luckily, mine are too scared to go out on the water & prefer their baby pool,lol. I see the wild mallards all the time & they don't fight like these do,maybe because they are more mature.