Help with integrating new ducks to my flock

[echabe]

Okay so I have two female ducks, one Rouen and one Khaki Campell, they are a little over two years old now.( I had one other khaki,but she passed away this winter.) They were hand fed and raised from the egg by me, and show no aggression towards people, and are generally quite friendly, letting me pick them up when I want. Well, a friend of mine that was also trying to raise a small flock is having trouble with foxes and I offered to take her two survivors, a black swedish drake and a four month old blue swedish female. Upon getting them home, my Khaki immediately settled right in with them. The Rouen, however is being incredibly aggressive, chasing both the drake and the female around the run and biting the backs of their necks. It's been four days, and isnt showing signs of letting up. Any suggestions? I hate to get rid of any of them. I tried putting the aggressive one in a kennel for a while beside the run so the Khaki could get acquainted, and I was hoping it might make her less aggressive if the other three were being friendly with each other, but as soon as I put her back in the run it was back to biting and chasing. Any suggestions on what to do now? Should I just let it go a little while and hope for the best? I dont want the newbies to get injured.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay so I have two female ducks, one Rouen and one Khaki Campell, they are a little over two years old now.( I had one other khaki,but she passed away this winter.) They were hand fed and raised from the egg by me, and show no aggression towards people, and are generally quite friendly, letting me pick them up when I want. Well, a friend of mine that was also trying to raise a small flock is having trouble with foxes and I offered to take her two survivors, a black swedish drake and a four month old blue swedish female. Upon getting them home, my Khaki immediately settled right in with them. The Rouen, however is being incredibly aggressive, chasing both the drake and the female around the run and biting the backs of their necks. It's been four days, and isnt showing signs of letting up. Any suggestions? I hate to get rid of any of them. I tried putting the aggressive one in a kennel for a while beside the run so the Khaki could get acquainted, and I was hoping it might make her less aggressive if the other three were being friendly with each other, but as soon as I put her back in the run it was back to biting and chasing. Any suggestions on what to do now? Should I just let it go a little while and hope for the best? I dont want the newbies to get injured.

IIs she actually drawing blood? you have a few options one you can put her in a completely separate area where she can't see the ducks and they can't see her, then leave her there for about a week, when you reintroduce her to the group her stattice as head meanie should have fallen to the bottom. or you can see if it will work itself out and if no one is getting hurt that maybe best, there is always a pecking order that needs to be worked out.

 

[echabe]

Thanks, that's a pretty good idea. I think I'll try her with the rest for a couple more days, hope that she starts to come around. If I dont see any improvement I'll give the seperation a shot. No blood has been drawn yet, but she has pulled out some feathers.

Edit: Is it wrong that I feel disappointed in my sweet girl? I never expected her to be so territorial!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks, that's a pretty good idea. I think I'll try her with the rest for a couple more days, hope that she starts to come around. If I dont see any improvement I'll give the seperation a shot. No blood has been drawn yet, but she has pulled out some feathers.

Edit: Is it wrong that I feel disappointed in my sweet girl? I never expected her to be so territorial!

Nope it's normal for us humans to feel that way, but she looks at the new ones as intruders and is treating them a such. I have 3- 7 week old ducklings that hatched right here and most of the adults will pull a feather out or scare them into thinking they may it's just part of the pecking order that most animals have. Hopefully she'll start seeing them differently.

Keep us updated.

 

[Amiga]

I was devastated when I saw my sweet little Elfie sumo wrestling with Romy, the new buff girl.

My little pumpkins were acting like street hoodlums! I blamed the new girls for teaching mine their rough ways. For about ten minutes. Then I remembered, they're ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was devastated when I saw my sweet little Elfie sumo wrestling with Romy, the new buff girl.

My little pumpkins were acting like street hoodlums! I blamed the new girls for teaching mine their rough ways. For about ten minutes. Then I remembered, they're ducks.

So true A