Help me understand Muscovy behavior

[LadyOfDuckness]

Participants:
1. Duckarys, male, about 3.5 months old. Hand raised as a lone duck from about 5-6 weeks of age after being dumped. Starting to molt his juvenile feathers.
2. Liliana, female, age unknown but has a face mask and caruncles so presumably fully mature. May or may not be Duckarys's mother. Lake-dumping situation, rescued about 2 weeks ago. Molting, not laying eggs.

Environment:
Both are inside ducks only at this stage, in diapers. I am with them most of the time, if I have to go out, or at night, they go into a see-through mesh baby play pen (45x45 in) with mirrors, toys, food, water. I have a video baby monitor hooked up to spy on them

Duck issues:
Since I have one male and only one female, I am keeping a very close eye on their interactions to make sure to separate them if necessary or make any corrections. Problem is, I am a duck novice so I don't always know what's normal.

They've been together 2 weeks now and so far they seem pretty happy together, when I pick up one, the other gets worried. He, in particular, is very protective and when I pick her up and carry her away to give her meds, he starts flapping around in a panic. Once I set her down, she rushes off to him to complain about me.

BUT... when they are in the playpen together, he bites her neck. Not a lot, there's no blood or feather loss and she squirms away from him when he does that. He tends to do it when there is a change - she is in the playpen and I put him in there, or he is in there and I add her in. Sometimes he does it to chase her away from the "prime" real estate in the playpen if she is in front of his favorite mirror or the food bowl he's interested in. Occasionally I have seen him nibble at her feathers on her back/butt area and she makes this super load SQUAWK to tell him off and he stops. So is this normal? Is it about dominance? There's been no mounting whatsoever and he is still too young. Is this the start of bad behavior? Should I remove food from the playpen? This behavior doesn't tend to happen outside the playpen when they are just adventuring around the house.

What should I look out for as he matures and we get closer to spring? At what point do you consider separating them?

P.S. We will be moving from Indiana to Texas in the next couple of months and once we've settled in, we'll probably look at add another female or two, but it's not feasible right now.

 

[Shadrach]

Participants:
1. Duckarys, male, about 3.5 months old. Hand raised as a lone duck from about 5-6 weeks of age after being dumped. Starting to molt his juvenile feathers.
2. Liliana, female, age unknown but has a face mask and caruncles so presumably fully mature. May or may not be Duckarys's mother. Lake-dumping situation, rescued about 2 weeks ago. Molting, not laying eggs.

Environment:
Both are inside ducks only at this stage, in diapers. I am with them most of the time, if I have to go out, or at night, they go into a see-through mesh baby play pen (45x45 in) with mirrors, toys, food, water. I have a video baby monitor hooked up to spy on them

Duck issues:
Since I have one male and only one female, I am keeping a very close eye on their interactions to make sure to separate them if necessary or make any corrections. Problem is, I am a duck novice so I don't always know what's normal.

They've been together 2 weeks now and so far they seem pretty happy together, when I pick up one, the other gets worried. He, in particular, is very protective and when I pick her up and carry her away to give her meds, he starts flapping around in a panic. Once I set her down, she rushes off to him to complain about me.

BUT... when they are in the playpen together, he bites her neck. Not a lot, there's no blood or feather loss and she squirms away from him when he does that. He tends to do it when there is a change - she is in the playpen and I put him in there, or he is in there and I add her in. Sometimes he does it to chase her away from the "prime" real estate in the playpen if she is in front of his favorite mirror or the food bowl he's interested in. Occasionally I have seen him nibble at her feathers on her back/butt area and she makes this super load SQUAWK to tell him off and he stops. So is this normal? Is it about dominance? There's been no mounting whatsoever and he is still too young. Is this the start of bad behavior? Should I remove food from the playpen? This behavior doesn't tend to happen outside the playpen when they are just adventuring around the house.

What should I look out for as he matures and we get closer to spring? At what point do you consider separating them?

P.S. We will be moving from Indiana to Texas in the next couple of months and once we've settled in, we'll probably look at add another female or two, but it's not feasible right now.View attachment 3306731

I'm no Muscovy duck expert, but I looked after a group for eight or nine years.
What you describe I would put down as affectionate behaviour. The grabbing the back of the neck is an invitation/attempt at mating same for the back feather nibbling.
There was a pair called Douglas and Jenny who were it seemed to me very close. Douglas would do these things to Jenny, who would often run off with Douglas in hot pursuit. Most female Muscovy ducks can and will fly. The drakes are much heavier and slower, although I've seen a few put on a fair turn of speed under pressure. The thing was, Jenny was much quicker than Douglas and Jenny would be quite a distance in front before the chase had got going properly. Jenny would stop, wait until puffing Douglas had almost caught up and then run off again. This would go on until it was apparent to me and Jenny it seems that Douglas was too tired to chase any more and Jenny would let Douglas catch her.
Unfortunately Douglas died and Jenny was never the same with any other Drakes.

I would add that having a largish pool/basin that the ducks can swim in is essential imo. The first thing the Muscovy mums taught their chicks was swimming.
@Miss Lydia would be a good person for your question.

 

[Shadrach]

 

[Miss Lydia]

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What beautiful Muscovy. What your saying is so true about the way they have their courting behavior. My drake will chase down one of his females and not even mate with her just stand on her back. It's quite comical. I've never had a drake over-mate any of his females Most likely because he usually had anywhere from 4-6 females Now my drake and his last 2 females are 11 yrs old. And he still likes to chase them around.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Participants:
1. Duckarys, male, about 3.5 months old. Hand raised as a lone duck from about 5-6 weeks of age after being dumped. Starting to molt his juvenile feathers.
2. Liliana, female, age unknown but has a face mask and caruncles so presumably fully mature. May or may not be Duckarys's mother. Lake-dumping situation, rescued about 2 weeks ago. Molting, not laying eggs.

Environment:
Both are inside ducks only at this stage, in diapers. I am with them most of the time, if I have to go out, or at night, they go into a see-through mesh baby play pen (45x45 in) with mirrors, toys, food, water. I have a video baby monitor hooked up to spy on them

Duck issues:
Since I have one male and only one female, I am keeping a very close eye on their interactions to make sure to separate them if necessary or make any corrections. Problem is, I am a duck novice so I don't always know what's normal.

They've been together 2 weeks now and so far they seem pretty happy together, when I pick up one, the other gets worried. He, in particular, is very protective and when I pick her up and carry her away to give her meds, he starts flapping around in a panic. Once I set her down, she rushes off to him to complain about me.

BUT... when they are in the playpen together, he bites her neck. Not a lot, there's no blood or feather loss and she squirms away from him when he does that. He tends to do it when there is a change - she is in the playpen and I put him in there, or he is in there and I add her in. Sometimes he does it to chase her away from the "prime" real estate in the playpen if she is in front of his favorite mirror or the food bowl he's interested in. Occasionally I have seen him nibble at her feathers on her back/butt area and she makes this super load SQUAWK to tell him off and he stops. So is this normal? Is it about dominance? There's been no mounting whatsoever and he is still too young. Is this the start of bad behavior? Should I remove food from the playpen? This behavior doesn't tend to happen outside the playpen when they are just adventuring around the house.

What should I look out for as he matures and we get closer to spring? At what point do you consider separating them?

P.S. We will be moving from Indiana to Texas in the next couple of months and once we've settled in, we'll probably look at add another female or two, but it's not feasible right now.View attachment 3306731

Once you get settled in Texas start your search for more females. To make sure he has enough girls that he doesn't wear out just Lilliana. Duckarys is young and going to be full of testosterone so you want to make sure when he starts getting hormonal has at least 4 or more females to keep him company. It will be traumatic to separate them so if you have to do it while getting extra females make sure they will still be side by side. That way they can still be together but where he can't overdo it. The nibbling and biting feathers is just to me part of courtship.
So awesome you were abler to rescue them and now they are a team.

 

[LadyOfDuckness]

Thank you all for your responses, and the gorgeous photos

I became a duck owner almost by accident and my husband and I were quite unprepared for all that's involved but we are currently working towards a more ideal duck set up, including more girl ducks in the future. @Shadrach, I am jealous of your set up So much space and greenery, that's our goal too. (Does greenery even exist in Texas?)