HELP - Pekin duck attacks our other duck

[tbp239]

So for starters, we're still new to ducks and chicks in general, so bear with me please

This is our Pekin duck. I'm not entirely sure if it's a male or female.. I believe male due to the raspy and quiet-like quack BUT it doesn't have the tail curl. He/she is currently 18 weeks so I figured there would be a tell-tale trait but so far, I'm not confident either way.

Anyway.. This is my dilemma - which may be more understood if I knew the sex first but here it goes..

The Pekin is always "attacking" our mallard. The mallard is male, so this may be strictly dominate behavior as it only seems to take place around this little pool of theirs or near a water spot in our yard. The pekin will drag the mallard around by his neck and the mallard just allows it.. I'm sort of afraid the pekin, who is much bigger, will hurt our mallard.. is this a issue I should be concerned with? Once "dominance" (I assume) is established, they go about their merry way. They enjoy hanging out together and never leave each others side, BUT if this is a female, what does this behavior mean?

Here's a pic or him/her.


And this is a picture of them "fighting". This behavior only lasts for a few moments - The Pekin will grab the mallards throat and literally drag the poor fella around, even ducking his head under water at times. Now this would be a huge surprise if the mallard turned out to be female but hey, we're new to this so I wouldn't be surprised if we got this whole thing wrong lol

 

[sourland]

The mallard is a drake for sure, and the pekin is most likely a drake. You notice this behavior around water because ducks frequently mate on the water. This behavior is likely to increase as the pekin matures more. Your pool appears to be small, but frequently frustrated drakes inadvertently drown other ducks/drakes.

 

[tbp239]

Oh no. Well, we have a large pond out front but they both refuse to go into it so this was our plan B, of sorts. Are they fighting because of territory? We have 6 female ducklings that are currently 3 weeks old and we plan to introduce them to the mallard and pekin in the future, so will the behavior improve when there are females around?

 

[sourland]

They are not fighting. It is early sexual behavior on the part of the pekin who wants to breed the mallard but hasn't figured out how to do it just yet. If he starts pursuing your chicken hens separate them immediately as he can seriously injure them.