[Help/Advice] 3 month old duck is picking on ~1 week old duckling. How do I stop her before it gets worse?

[ducknugget]

Both ducks are female Pekins, so we’ll refer to the older one as Duck A and the younger one Duck B:

A bit of backstory; a few months ago we adopted Duck A along with a friend at the same age to keep both of them company while we’re busy. Unfortunately, the friend was taken by an animal which we can safely assume was killed. This had troubled Duck A, so after what seemed like forever, we finally found Duck B that we hoped could help her.

The thing is though, Duck A doesn’t seem to be very fond of Duck B. I’ve seen her nibbling/biting Duck B’s head, and even taking her by the head, wing, leg, etc and throwing her. This usually happens whenever they‘re both being hand fed, drinking from the same water source, or when Duck A simply gets annoyed by Duck B. However, despite all of this, Duck B still continues to following Duck A as if it were her mother (both are from completely different hatchings).

Me and Duck A were pretty close, so I‘m not sure why she would do this. Jealousy? Domination? I’m worried that if I don’t get Duck A to stop, she might hurt Duck B severely or even kill her when I’m not there to intervene. Is it really as serious as I think it is? What can I do to make them get along?

If it helps with your advice, here’s some other information:
- There’s no blood, open wounds, or torn feathers/fluff from Duck B
- They‘re together when they sleep during the night in the shed
- As mentioned earlier, Duck B sees Duck A as her mother, and cry’s whenever they’re not together
- They‘ve been together for 2 nights now
- They get along occasionally, as in Duck A not picking on Duck B, but it still concerns me

I hope I didn’t make this too confusing. Thank you in advance for any advice!

 

[Quatie]

I would separate them and let your duck grow up. It is too small to interact and with the other duck. Your older duck can kill the younger one. Once the younger one is 6-9 weeks old, they can be slowly introduced over a few weeks.

When you get to that point, how I introduce ducks to my flock, I put my new ducks outside in an area next to flock where they can see each other, but not interact. After a week or more, they can then share the area together, but I put the new ducks in the coop at night with a barrier where they can see but not interact again. After another week or two, they can spend the night in the coop with no barriers. This sometimes can take longer, or go faster. Depends on the ducks.

I would personally get another 1 week old duckling if you can. It will allow one duck to not be alone. It will also make them out number the older duck when you integrate them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Separate but keep them side by side. I had week old ducklings and newly hatched in the same brooder but used a piece of hardware clothe edges wrapped so they could see each other but the older ones couldn't pick on the younger. Then every so often I'd let them be together supervised it took about a week before they were all piled on top of each other sleeping. Gives the younger ones time to gain strength.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I agree with the separating, the age gap is causing problems.

 

[EmmaGRS]

Both ducks are female Pekins, so we’ll refer to the older one as Duck A and the younger one Duck B:

A bit of backstory; a few months ago we adopted Duck A along with a friend at the same age to keep both of them company while we’re busy. Unfortunately, the friend was taken by an animal which we can safely assume was killed. This had troubled Duck A, so after what seemed like forever, we finally found Duck B that we hoped could help her.

The thing is though, Duck A doesn’t seem to be very fond of Duck B. I’ve seen her nibbling/biting Duck B’s head, and even taking her by the head, wing, leg, etc and throwing her. This usually happens whenever they‘re both being hand fed, drinking from the same water source, or when Duck A simply gets annoyed by Duck B. However, despite all of this, Duck B still continues to following Duck A as if it were her mother (both are from completely different hatchings).

Me and Duck A were pretty close, so I‘m not sure why she would do this. Jealousy? Domination? I’m worried that if I don’t get Duck A to stop, she might hurt Duck B severely or even kill her when I’m not there to intervene. Is it really as serious as I think it is? What can I do to make them get along?

If it helps with your advice, here’s some other information:
- There’s no blood, open wounds, or torn feathers/fluff from Duck B
- They‘re together when they sleep during the night in the shed
- As mentioned earlier, Duck B sees Duck A as her mother, and cry’s whenever they’re not together
- They‘ve been together for 2 nights now
- They get along occasionally, as in Duck A not picking on Duck B, but it still concerns me

I hope I didn’t make this too confusing. Thank you in advance for any advice!

I’ve seen multiple people saying to separate them, and that isn’t always the best case. Ducks need to have friends, and sometimes if you leave them be for several hours every now and then, they’ll come to depend on eachother. I had a duckling that I hatched that was about 3-4 weeks older than another one I hatched, that was completely alone. I waited a couple days for the newly hatched one to get a big bigger and stronger, and then I put him with the older one. (The older one, a mallard, was with a friend, a Rouen. I got a Cayuga friend for the newest one because I didn’t want him being super dependent on me. Well, seller false advertised and that duckling was huge. So I put the mallard with the baby mallard and the Cayuga with the Rouen) and long story short they did fine. There was a little pecking and stepping on but once they established that they only had eachother (for duck friends) they did fine. Sometimes it takes a while, but based off your post it says you’ve only have them together for 2 days? I’d say give it a few more days, and keep a close eye but try not to interact. She could just be saying she’s boss. If it keeps happening for a while tho it probably will be best to separate them. Hope this makes sense

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Do you have a picture of your coop/brooder or wherever you are keeping them? What I would recommend since you only have the two is separate so they can see each other until the 1 week old reaches 3-4 weeks then try re-integrating. I keep all of my ducks in a 30x60 barn and their areas are framed out with 2x4's with wire walls. Think like horse stalls only they can see each other and the walls are 5ft tall. For the first 2 weeks my ducklings are in a 4ft round stock tank brooder to help them slowly adjust to the new environment without being too overwhelmed. They can hear the other ducks, but not see them. Once they reach two weeks I put them in their own stall that is 8ftx8ft so they are only separated from the others by a framed wire wall. This allows them to safely interact and adjust to the other ducks. Since I keep my males in a stall where the front is wire, but the sides are metal they can't pick at anyone on the other side I fully integrate my ducklings with my hens at around 2 months (my ducklings never are never introduced with adult drakes until they are sexually mature and even then they are very rarely together since I keep the drakes separate). This way they have been living side by side and are very used to each other. This method may not work for everyone and involves having extra space, but when I fully integrate everyone the transition is usually pretty seamless.