Have you observed your ducks caring for one another?

[HandleWithCare]

I am a novice to keeping ducks and, being a novice, we had a sad incident on the weekend with our drake being attacked by a fox. We took him to the vet and we had a hard time deciding if we should treat or euthanize due to the extensive injuries but ultimately decided that if he was willing to live, we were willing to try.

It is day three and he has gone from death's door to being up, active and eating and drinking on his own (after oral administration of painkillers, antibiotics and electrolytes). We've also been doing some care we've seen on these forums which led me back here. He's had some epsom salt baths and saline flushing, etc. along with his medications.

He is very attached to a duck of ours and they grew up together (different clutches). He's isolated together with her away from our other birds and I think she helped him pull through that first night when we were worried he wouldn't make it.

And here is where my question comes in. This duck has been cleaning the feathers around his injuries. At first I thought she was biting him and I was worried as I know they can bully one another. But she's actually getting water in her beak and then preening him the same way they do to themselves! I've also observed her laying her head over his wings while sitting next to each other, which is something he normally does to her.

Have you observed your ducks doing this? I knew they could be closely bonded but didn't realize they would care for one another when wounded. I've had parrots and chickens and not seen them do this. I'm really curious.

 

[ruthhope]

I am a novice to keeping ducks and, being a novice, we had a sad incident on the weekend with our drake being attacked by a fox. We took him to the vet and we had a hard time deciding if we should treat or euthanize due to the extensive injuries but ultimately decided that if he was willing to live, we were willing to try.

It is day three and he has gone from death's door to being up, active and eating and drinking on his own (after oral administration of painkillers, antibiotics and electrolytes). We've also been doing some care we've seen on these forums which led me back here. He's had some epsom salt baths and saline flushing, etc. along with his medications.

He is very attached to a duck of ours and they grew up together (different clutches). He's isolated together with her away from our other birds and I think she helped him pull through that first night when we were worried he wouldn't make it.

And here is where my question comes in. This duck has been cleaning the feathers around his injuries. At first I thought she was biting him and I was worried as I know they can bully one another. But she's actually getting water in her beak and then preening him the same way they do to themselves! I've also observed her laying her head over his wings while sitting next to each other, which is something he normally does to her.

Have you observed your ducks doing this? I knew they could be closely bonded but didn't realize they would care for one another when wounded. I've had parrots and chickens and not seen them do this. I'm really curious.

I am so happy to hear that your drake is pulling through from his horrific injuries. And I am glad he has a caring companion

I have a rescued muscovy, Daffy, that I hand raised from about 3 days' old. I thought Daffy was female from her growth curve. She was introduced to other rescued ducks at 5 weeks old and now lives with 2 of them -- another muscovy and a crested pekin. From about 10 weeks old, Daffy would preen the chest and occasionally the wings of the second muscovy. She also would lie with her head along his shoulders. Except that by then it was also becoming clear that Daffy was actually male. He had continued to grow beyond the size of a female muscovy and had not developed a muscovy female voice. Early this year, the tender moments ceased as the drakes' hormones kicekd in. Daffy and the other two ducks now have daily tussles -- no blood let and only an occasional feather lost -- and he no longer shows tenderness to the other muscovy.

I have witnessed other birds behaving in a caring way. Last year a hawk tried to take out a male cardinal from a tree in my back yard. The hawk and cardinal came crashign through the tree with a thud and I went to investigate. The hawk immediately flew off, and then the cardinal started to flutter and made it over my back fence. I expected he would not survive but i was wrong The next day I could see him in the lower branches of another tree in my back garden and Mrs Cardinal was at my bird feeders, she was not only feeding her nestlings on her own, she was feeding Mr Cardinal. It was 4 days before Mr Cardinal was timidly coming to my feeders and eating himself, but within a week he was feeding his now fledged babies. Mr Cardinal healed with a gray scar down his flank and is still in my garden this year.

Your female duck is lovely to be caring. I suspect it is not every duck that can be so, and your injured drake is fortunate to have a ducky mate that is caring.

in the photos, Daffy is the Chocolate muscovy with barred chest; O Pato the duck being groomed and cared for, has the white breast> Unfortunately, the photos are taken through a glass door with a flyscreen

 

[african chickens]

omg that is literally a identical story to what happened with my duck

 

[Miss Cheep]

I am a novice to keeping ducks and, being a novice, we had a sad incident on the weekend with our drake being attacked by a fox. We took him to the vet and we had a hard time deciding if we should treat or euthanize due to the extensive injuries but ultimately decided that if he was willing to live, we were willing to try.

It is day three and he has gone from death's door to being up, active and eating and drinking on his own (after oral administration of painkillers, antibiotics and electrolytes). We've also been doing some care we've seen on these forums which led me back here. He's had some epsom salt baths and saline flushing, etc. along with his medications.

He is very attached to a duck of ours and they grew up together (different clutches). He's isolated together with her away from our other birds and I think she helped him pull through that first night when we were worried he wouldn't make it.

And here is where my question comes in. This duck has been cleaning the feathers around his injuries. At first I thought she was biting him and I was worried as I know they can bully one another. But she's actually getting water in her beak and then preening him the same way they do to themselves! I've also observed her laying her head over his wings while sitting next to each other, which is something he normally does to her.

Have you observed your ducks doing this? I knew they could be closely bonded but didn't realize they would care for one another when wounded. I've had parrots and chickens and not seen them do this. I'm really curious.

I'm glad your duck is recovering! My ducks clean each other all the time! When I first saw them do that, I was kind of confused ( like you ) I noticed this the most with my ducks that are pairs. So it is normal.