Help ASAP!

QuacksALot

Chirping
Jun 26, 2018
69
191
76
I'm at my end here. I can't find any ideas on how to help my poor duck, Donald. Quakers' is the male and Donald is the female. We call Donald "Donna" for a short and girly nickname. I am nervous because it seems all Quakers thinks about is mating- literally. I've counted for the past few days how many times I see them mating. I count about, 5. 5 per day, that's not including all the other times I haven't seen. Please somebody help. She's losing her feathers. She's bleeding from her loss of feathers. She's losing her little nails on her feet. I can't start incubating until April because we're building a new coop for them. I've held back Quakers' (let Donna have her own pool time) on my lap, but he mysteriously escapes somehow. I've done the opposite that way. I've kept both of them out of the pool- but that leads to Quakers' trying to mate outside of the pool. Please help.
 
You need to separate Quackers from poor Donna somehow, if you can't get more females any time soon. A drake can mate at female duck to death, and it sounds like this particular drake definitely needs more females than he has. Is it possible to put up a temporary fence so he cannot get to Donna?
 
For a start, put your hand heavy on Quacker's back and pin him down to the ground. Don't let him go for about 30 seconds, then release him. You have just shown him that there's a stronger Drake around and that should dampen his mating wishes for a short while. It helps with my Donald, an Indian Runner drake for half a day.
But in the end you will have to separate them for Donna's health. Keep Quackers in the duck house and let Donna swim. Also you should treat her injuries with an antibiotic ointment.
 
This happened with my bearded dragons, my little dude can't resist my lady. When I first got him I was told that he was a she so I didn't think I would have to worry about aggressive behavior towards my girl. Fast forward a couple years and I have to keep my girl out of the cage because he is basically ripping her to shreds. Im glad my roo is a bantam with a bunch of big ladies so he can't do much harm. I would suggest getting more lady ducks for your dude so he's more distracted. If you don't want more ducks, you might have to pick between donna and quaker :(. You could keep them in separate coops/ runs but I don't know if you'd be willing to do that. Good luck!!
 
For a start, put your hand heavy on Quacker's back and pin him down to the ground. Don't let him go for about 30 seconds, then release him. You have just shown him that there's a stronger Drake around and that should dampen his mating wishes for a short while. It helps with my Donald, an Indian Runner drake for half a day.
But in the end you will have to separate them for Donna's health. Keep Quackers in the duck house and let Donna swim. Also you should treat her injuries with an antibiotic ointment.
Thanks for the help. The injuries aren't that bad- but I'm still very worried. I've been crying myself to sleep for the past 4 days.
 
This happened with my bearded dragons, my little dude can't resist my lady. When I first got him I was told that he was a she so I didn't think I would have to worry about aggressive behavior towards my girl. Fast forward a couple years and I have to keep my girl out of the cage because he is basically ripping her to shreds. Im glad my roo is a bantam with a bunch of big ladies so he can't do much harm. I would suggest getting more lady ducks for your dude so he's more distracted. If you don't want more ducks, you might have to pick between donna and quaker :(. You could keep them in separate coops/ runs but I don't know if you'd be willing to do that. Good luck!!
Thanks for the help. I'm definitely not going to choose between them. I most likely will get more ducks soon, too. I hope they are not all going to be males though.
 
You need to separate Quackers from poor Donna somehow, if you can't get more females any time soon. A drake can mate at female duck to death, and it sounds like this particular drake definitely needs more females than he has. Is it possible to put up a temporary fence so he cannot get to Donna?
Maybe. They don't have a pool in their pen, so I don't have to worry about that.. I might just have to watch them while they're in the pool outside.
 
Guys, I can only get ducks in April, my husband said. Do you think Donna can wait that long? If she can't, I don't know what to do... I'm so sad!!
 
Ducks will mate on land as well as in a pool, so chances are he is mating with her inside the duck coop already. I doubt she will make it until Spring with what you're saying her current injuries are already. It will only continue to get worse if he has access to her. Is there anyone you know who may be able to 'loan' a female to you until you get ducklings?
 
Guys, I can only get ducks in April, my husband said. Do you think Donna can wait that long? If she can't, I don't know what to do... I'm so sad!!
You can't get most kinds of ducklings before April, but you can always try to buy a grown duck from a local farmer.
And no, Donna won't survive until April - and it will be October next year if you buy ducklings in April before they are grown enough for a drake. The only solution is to separate them. Sorry for the hard words, but drakes are rough.
 

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