Help with a duck

[Paige_L]

Last summer, we brought home 6 ducklings. (4 pekin, 2 runners; 5 female, 1 male) We decided that we would like to add a few others, so early this spring, we stopped collecting the eggs and left them to see if any of the ducks would brood. They did... but it didn't work out so well. We initially had 2 that were broody, made 2 big nests and sat on their eggs. We waited... and waited... and waited... After a couple of weeks, we noticed that one of the ducks was moving her nest. It started out in one corner, moved to the middle of their house, then moved to the other side, eventually right up next to the other duck, meanwhile a third duck went broody and built a nest. We ended up with eggs everywhere. We couldn't figure out which ones had been there under the ducks and if any of them were new. It was quite a mess. We decided we better check the eggs, so when we let them out to the pond, my husband and I checked every egg, most of which were rotten. We cleaned them all out, cleaned out their house and waited for them to start laying again (most of them did and we used an incubator and now have 12 new ducklings!).

While most of the ducks reset back to normal and started laying again, we have one that has not. We noticed that our drake kept chasing her around their run and at first we kind of laughed it off, however after a couple of days, we noticed that she had lost a lot of weight. Any time she stepped out of the house, the drake gave chase. He would chase her back into the house, out of the house and into a corner where she would stick her head through the corner of the fencing, tearing her head and neck up. He wouldn't let her eat or drink because any time she stepped out, he chased her. We separated her from the rest, so she could eat and drink, heal, and gain some weight back. After about a week, we let her out with the rest of the ducks and once again the drake gave chase. He chased her out of the pond and all around the yard. We kept her separated, thinking she just needed a little more time. After about another week, we let her out again with the rest of them. This time, she got into the pond and swam right up to the others. The drake tried a couple times to mate with her and she would run, but he wasn't as persistent and they seemed to be getting along better. We tried putting her back into the run in the evening with the rest, and it went right back to the drake chasing the one duck into the corner, so we separated them again. This has gone on now for a couple of months. We've kept her separated, but anytime we let her out with the rest, the drake gives chase and she will absolutely not let him mate with her. He wants her, but she doesn't want anything to do with her. He chases her out of the pond and all around the yard. He does mate with the others. I think he got her once in the pond, but she's a lot faster than he is and when they're in the pond, when he goes after her, she'll dive under him through the water and flap out onto the shore. We tried putting him in with her a few nights to see if that might help her reset, but to no avail. She still is not laying eggs either and all the other females started relaying about a month and a half ago.

Anyone know why this would be happening?
Did we traumatize her to much by taking her eggs away? She didn't seem to notice they were all rotten...
Will she ever go back to "normal"?
Will we have to keep her separated forever?
Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[Weeg]

I had a situation a lot like this, with the broody ducks and everything. Exact same situation with my broods as well. I have never had this go on foe so long, but what did, was watch them when they were together, and when the drake took chase, I would trow things at him. Soft things, like little rocks and sticks. He would see me and get more distracted of the throwing things and run from me. I would have to watch again, because he would try and chase her again, but then I would commence in the throwing of things. He would then settle down. Your drake seems to be more determined so it might be more work, but if that doesn't work, then you can separate him for a couple days and give him a time out. Good luck, Avery

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Not quite as similar of a situation, but I have one female duck who prefers to be alone and is very independent. She doesn't let the males mate with her either and since she can fly, anytime the males harass her she will fly out of the usual fenced area I let the ducks into and into one of our other fenced pasture areas where there aren't any ducks. I ended up buying a kiddie pool to put out in the area she flies to and I just let her be alone as long as she wants. We have been talking about building a separate smaller coop over in the pasture she flies to and putting her with the one other female she seems to not be bothered by.