HELP!!!! ducks fighting-Has anyone had this problem?

[Kibblesnbits148]

Not sure how to post images on these kind of forums just yet, but I will post them where I can. (possibly profile..?

)
But our ducks are definitely under 16 weeks of age, we read somewhere that you can tell the sex of a duck by the curling tail feathers, but none of our ducks' feathers are curled and we aren't sure of any other way to tell.

We will keep an eye on him and seperate him if we have to, but we are trying to avoid something like that because they are still so young and really attatched to each other.
Thank you so very much!

I appreciate it!

 

[1234duck]

Kibblesnbits148, the hens/female ducks make a quack sound & the drakes/males make a raspy sound. Yes, their tail feathers curl too. ~To post pictures do this.... Click "post a reply" at the top, like you did when you posted about your ducks. ~Then at the top, Click"uploads". ~Then click the box below file or browse. ~check the box "resize image" and then click 640x480. ~Then you select a photo to upload ~at the bottom click "submit" when its done uploading, click "image"then you just cut & paste it to your post.

Good luck, ~Julie~

 

[Kibblesnbits148]

Thanks Julie!
Our problem duck is one of the black ones (they are getting harder and harder to tell apart as days go by, the only way we can really tell is by size and the color of their feet!) Tail feathers and the tip of the black ducks' wings are turning a deep, dark green.

Better picture..

 

[DuckieLover2014]

Thsir very cute..

 

[Yukonn15]

I vote for the island idea. It sounds like a beautiful set up for the ducks.

 

[Yukonn15]

I have a lousy ratio of Peking ducks. 2boys and 1 girl. They are 8 months old now and just two days ago the mor aggressive drake charged and chased the other all day. Since they have been like one unit all this time it caught me off guard. They free range all day and then they all go into their house at night. Today they are the drake and my female and then the other drake about 6 feet away. That is an improvement. They still march to their house together at night. I haven't done anything, mostly because I don't know what to do. It is the saddest sight to have seen them together for so long and now it's the pair and then 6 feet away it's the other drake. Should I do anything? They don't have a pen, just a house for all three.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a lousy ratio of Peking ducks. 2boys and 1 girl. They are 8 months old now and just two days ago the mor aggressive drake charged and chased the other all day. Since they have been like one unit all this time it caught me off guard. They free range all day and then they all go into their house at night. Today they are the drake and my female and then the other drake about 6 feet away. That is an improvement. They still march to their house together at night. I haven't done anything, mostly because I don't know what to do. It is the saddest sight to have seen them together for so long and now it's the pair and then 6 feet away it's the other drake. Should I do anything? They don't have a pen, just a house for all three.

You need more ducks it's the only thing you can do get at least 3 more ducks that will give each drake 2 girls each more girls would be better but all of my drakes [3] have 2 girls apiece except my old drake he has 3. Each spring when mating season arrives I watch drakes chasing each other all over the property, one drake will lay claim the others 2 girls which makes me sad because that means someone is without a friend , but even when their girls seem to like the most dominant drake they will still hang out some with the loser, then in the fall everyones back to Normal, they all hang out together for the winter then back at it the next mating season. You don't want your drakes over mating your one female either which can happen very easily. So get more girls for your boys. One more solution would be to rehome one of your drakes.

Welcome to BYC

 

[Featheredmom23]

Hi - Thanks! I have seperated the ducks into different areas on opposite corners of the pen (had the areas next to each other but they still grabbed each other thru the fencing trying to pull the otjer thru). We also made a seperation for them with chicken wire and a heavy plastic sheeting part way up for inside the coop.The males still seem to see each other thru the chicken wire and grab at each other thru the fence (so we figured with the plastic they couldn't see each other) so far it's worked. It's really quite wierd but, interesting to watch,they're relentless.
In each new area we have a male and a female ( I hope we have the right female with the right male,can't really tell the females apart now) and each area has it's own swimming pool.They seem happy enough and their far enough apart so they can't reach each other.We didn't put a top on the areas but, so far no one's tried to fly out.Altho, last night one of the females did manage to somehow get onto the dominant males side of the coop. And guess what? You guys were right, both females laid their eggs there!
How long will this mating season go on for? Will they start again in the fall? If I were to get 2 more females what age should they be? Should they be about the age of these ducks or younger? Will they start this fighting again even with new female ducks? If I get more females I don't want the dominant duck next time to take over all 4 females LOL!!!!!
Thanks again for your help! We only starting raising ducks last fall and have been hitting all kinds of new stuff this yr as they grow and mature.

My males were all fighting over one female. I locked up the most aggressive one, and thought it was under control. It wasn’. I had a fatality.