help needed PLEASE

[lovesduckies]

okay soooo my dad had it in his head that you can just put new duckies in with existing duckies and everything will be happy go lucky. i told him several times that it won't be the case. my drake will be mad.. he had to learn the hard way. so today we did things his way. we had duckie running around the yard while i cleaned the pools (if he's locked in the pen with me he attacks me cuz he's territorial so i have to let him run around) and he was knocking on the door to go inside LOL he was a very happy drake. then we brought the ducklings. apparently when i was going up to get the last one duckie my drake was maaaaaaad he was climbing the gate (scovy lol) and he was flappin his wings. i rushed and took fruitloops back upstairs and when i came down duckie was coming after ME! we all know duckie loves his mommy. soo i sat there and contained duckie (held his beak shut and kept him away) while my dad took the ducklings back upstairs. after that duckie was happy go lucky again, it was like nothing had happened. i was scared i am still trying to calm down. ciggie don't work well. sorry for the bad grammer too.

anyway, how do i introduce my ducklings?? do we build them a pen? does it have to be away from duckie? i told my dad we might need to build a new pen before any of this even happened. should i take the ducklings outside for a while during the day?? idk what to do.. please help

 

[paddock36]

I would guess you need to introduce them like you would chickens. Do you have a small pen that you could put the new duck in and sit it near the drake so he could get to know the new duck without being able to attack him. Maybe that would help.

 

[lovesduckies]

there are 3 ducklings we have in here that need to go out. we only have one pen (suburban neighborhood) if anything we'd have to build one. he was soooooo mad though if i have those ducklings with me i am getting attacked too unless i can hold his beak shut. i have never seen him that mad. he was biting my dads lets and then saw me and stomped over to me. i had to push him away and then i just sat there and held his beak shut

 

[duckyfromoz]

I did get your text... You woke me up! ...So I came and logged on here thinking you may have have a post up. First up...The babies are too young to go with the adults just yet- and secondly when they are introduced it has to be done slowly so they can get used to each other. Remember that Duckie is the dominant over Quackers...so any new ducks introduced will be subjected to his attempts to put them in their place and learn that he is the dominant one. If Duckie and Quackers are in their pen, you can take the ducklings out into the garden and sit with them on the other side of the fence. It will allow them all to see each other- without Duckie being able to attack them.

Do you have any wire left over from building the pen?? If you do you could section off one area so the ducklings can be outside but in their own area to be safely away from Duckie while they all get used to each other.

I havent had too many issues introducing new ducks as a let them have their seperate areas for a few days first. I let my two older girls out to meet the parent s recently- and while there was a little trouble- the young ones werent being attacked so badly I had to remove them. I am about to put them outside for the day now in their own little section - the adults are likely to come running over to the fence for a look..but the babies will be safe.

 

[chickenbarn-gal]

This works with chickens but I'm not too sure w/ ducks, soooo -

While the /duck/ is sleeping, put the other duckling in his coop, or next to him.. But not too close, in the morning he should adjust to it and be totally fine.

Hope it works with the duck,

 

[redhen]

He needs to be able to SEE them..but not be able to get at them. Use a fence or wire pen to keep them seperate...
Do this everyday for a while... then when the babies are bigger you do supervised time together...
no matter what you do.. there WILL be some attacking at first... as long as the drake dosent attack to KILL... just let them work it out themselves...
Its a long process... my drake is STILL attacking my babies too...
BUT hes gotten MUCH better this week... good thing..he was almost a dead duck!

 

[lovesduckies]

thanks ducky. sorry i woke you

i know your on holidays and i realize now it probably about 9 when i woke you

sorry

yeah see i told my dad all this and you know how he is.

we have some wire and one post. i told him we'd have to build a new pen. can we just add it on to the one we have?? duckie was veryyy mad. really mad. he was trying to climb the fence!!! quackers was just on her nest. she didn't care. i told my dad they are tooo little and duckie will try to mate with them and i don't really want him in the same pen as the mallards cuz he's so big and they are so small. but he didn't listen. he wants to build duckie his own pen cuz we don't know how he will be when the nest that quackers is on hatches.. but that's a whol other issue LOL

thanks. sorry i woke you up love!

 

[paddock36]

I have an old wire dog crate that I use to introduce new chickens. Maybe you could find one of those.

 

[lovesduckies]

thanks guys. i read the posts to my dad. he seems kinda mad cuz he says the ducks smell.. he smells worse than them LOL kidding.. but i try my best to keep the pen clean. anyway.. i hope he listens to you guys

 

[duckyfromoz]

All mine are out now...I will go take a pic for you. It just temporary fencing up for th babies... But it gives them safety. The adults came over for a few minutes...But I refreshed their water containers and dug over some soil so they can look for worms- and their minds are occupied elsewhere now.