Fighting duck advice please

[KDUCKS]

Good Morning!

I am a new member and am in need of some help. I am a duck owner and am always referring to this website for duck advice. I decided to start my own account because we had a bit of a mishap in the night. We rescued an 8 wk old Muscovy yesterday and added it to our flock of 4 adult female Pekins. All ducks were locked up for the night together and the Pekins beat up the new duck pretty bad. I am in need of advice and am thinking that adding an adult female Muscovy might help protect the little one. (So if anyone in the south-of-Chicago area has one available please let me know). Thanks a ton!

 

[veronicasmom]

Welcome! I am sure there are others who will give you some advice, but here is what I think.
I would not leave the Pekins alone with the Muscovy till she gets bigger. Every time you add a duck, there is an adjustment period where the pecking order is established. I would advise making sure the little one can have it's own space at night in the sleeping area. You can get a wire dog crate and put a small turned over Rubbermaid container in it for the Muscovy. Or you can do what we did, used dog ex pen panels and created an area in the shed for our new duck to be in. Again, putting in a spot where she can hide. If they have enough room during the day, and the Muscovy can be safe, you can allow the Pekins to interact as long as they are not mean. Or you can construct a safe spot in the duck area so they can get used to each other, but not hurt the Muscovy.
I personally don't think adding an adult Muscovy to protect the little one is going to work, that one may attack too. Best to try to let the Pekins accept the Scovy first. I have always done intros in some form of this fashion and for the most part, it works well.
Good luck!!

 

[Orca5094]

Welcome! I am sure there are others who will give you some advice, but here is what I think.
I would not leave the Pekins alone with the Muscovy till she gets bigger. Every time you add a duck, there is an adjustment period where the pecking order is established. I would advise making sure the little one can have it's own space at night in the sleeping area. You can get a wire dog crate and put a small turned over Rubbermaid container in it for the Muscovy. Or you can do what we did, used dog ex pen panels and created an area in the shed for our new duck to be in. Again, putting in a spot where she can hide. If they have enough room during the day, and the Muscovy can be safe, you can allow the Pekins to interact as long as they are not mean. Or you can construct a safe spot in the duck area so they can get used to each other, but not hurt the Muscovy.
I personally don't think adding an adult Muscovy to protect the little one is going to work, that one may attack too. Best to try to let the Pekins accept the Scovy first. I have always done intros in some form of this fashion and for the most part, it works well.
Good luck!!

This is great advice! Ducks can be quite mean to newbies and you need to introduce them slowly (especially since your new guy is still so young and probably smaller than your Pekins).

I hatched out a single duckling a couple months ago and have been introducing her to my other two ducks for about 7 weeks now. It's a slow process of having them live next to each other and having a safe area for the little one to be in so it doesn't get hurt. (Yours probably won't take as long, but I did have to wait until my little one was even big enough to be out with the older ducks). Mine are finally to the point where I can have them all out together in the duck yard during the day, but I still have to keep the younger one in her own pen at night inside the duck house. The two older ducks still pick on her if she's in the way and there just isn't enough room inside the duck house for her to get away.

Good luck with your introductions!

 

[KDUCKS]

Thank you so much, I didn't want to get another muscovy... I only knew they were very motherly... A dog pen will be perfect (we have extra one). The muscovy has plenty of room during the day when they are out and about. She can jump over the small fence we have around the patio we put up to keep the pekins off of the patio!

I have her in the duck hut by herself now with the heat light on so she can recover alone and keep warm. They pulled all the feathers out of the back of her neck and she broke a blood feather in the fight. I feel terrible. We kept an eye on them before we went to bed and they were ok but when I got them out this morning I couldn't believe the damage they had done.

I am praying when she is bigger everything will work out, it will be nice to have a bird to keep the mosquitos and flies at bay in the summer.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you so much, I didn't want to get another muscovy... I only knew they were very motherly... A dog pen will be perfect (we have extra one). The muscovy has plenty of room during the day when they are out and about. She can jump over the small fence we have around the patio we put up to keep the pekins off of the patio!

I have her in the duck hut by herself now with the heat light on so she can recover alone and keep warm. They pulled all the feathers out of the back of her neck and she broke a blood feather in the fight. I feel terrible. We kept an eye on them before we went to bed and they were ok but when I got them out this morning I couldn't believe the damage they had done.

I am praying when she is bigger everything will work out, it will be nice to have a bird to keep the mosquitos and flies at bay in the summer.

How old do you think she is? both ladies have given you great advise, I hope the lil one recovers. quickly and the older girls accept her eventually, they will of course I just takes time.

 

[KDUCKS]

We believe she is 8-9 weeks. A buddy of ours found her on the side of the road as a duckling the beginning of September and he kept her with his guiney chicks until she was feathered. He brought her over thinking she was Pekin because she is white but after a little research (it was obvious to us she wasn't Pekin due to the fancy long tail feathers, light beak, and chirp) we found out she is Muscovy. Our buddy could not keep her because the hens were following her around and not roosting.

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement it has been most helpful

 

[Miss Lydia]

We believe she is 8-9 weeks. A buddy of ours found her on the side of the road as a duckling the beginning of September and he kept her with his guiney chicks until she was feathered. He brought her over thinking she was Pekin because she is white but after a little research (it was obvious to us she wasn't Pekin due to the fancy long tail feathers, light beak, and chirp) we found out she is Muscovy. Our buddy could not keep her because the hens were following her around and not roosting.

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement it has been most helpful

Pics when you can.

 

[KDUCKS]

 

[smonkeySK]

For such laid back creatures, ducks sure do have a nasty vindictive side at times! They can be such bullies until acceptance is attained; it's just a shame that they can be so persistent and have a tendency to gang up.

If you follow the advice given earlier, then she should be fine and will fit in with minimal stress.

She's a sweet little thing btw - not normally a scovie fan but she is lovely.
I was chuckling about the guinea fowl following her round instead of roosting

 

[Miss Lydia]

She is pretty, I have 2 solid white Scovy's they were 10 rs old in July, they have a long life span if kept safe.Have you been putting any thing on her wounds? and she may not need the heat I'd check the temp you don't want to over heat her. they are pretty tough lil things.