- May 2, 2010
- 132
- 1
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I have been posting here a lot recently.
Looong story short: I had 2 Pekin drakes and a Cayuga female and I needed to get rid of one drake-(two of them were" too much" with the female, if you know what I mean.) I found someone who would take him, but this person had no other ducks so I bought two adult female Khaki Campbells one for me to keep, and one for the people taking the drake.
One the advice of the woman I bought the Khaki from, I let them loose in my yard while waiting for the people to pick up the drake and 1 Khaki. This was not good. The dominant drake charged the new Khaki's and -it seemed- nearly killed one of them. It was seriously violent and the female was SCREAMING. I put the drake in the coop. Then the other non- dominant drake did the same thing. He was put in the coop too. I couldn't imagine my female would dominate/attack other females, but she did. Seriously attacked them. I put her in the coop.
By this time the new females were a mess. They looked as if they had developed "tics" like mentally insane people have. Repeatedly bowing the head off to one side in a crazy way. I felt so bad for them.
When the people came to pick up the drake and one Khaki, I gave them instead my two Pekins and my black Cuyuga. I kept both the new female Khaki's.
I hope they will be ok. Is it alright for hens to go thru so much stress? What can I do to help them adjust? My husband and I finally got them in the coop. Tomorrow I think I'll put a kiddie pool in there and let them be confined for a few days without free ranging. I feel I will never win them over now....
This has been so very stressful for me.
Looong story short: I had 2 Pekin drakes and a Cayuga female and I needed to get rid of one drake-(two of them were" too much" with the female, if you know what I mean.) I found someone who would take him, but this person had no other ducks so I bought two adult female Khaki Campbells one for me to keep, and one for the people taking the drake.
One the advice of the woman I bought the Khaki from, I let them loose in my yard while waiting for the people to pick up the drake and 1 Khaki. This was not good. The dominant drake charged the new Khaki's and -it seemed- nearly killed one of them. It was seriously violent and the female was SCREAMING. I put the drake in the coop. Then the other non- dominant drake did the same thing. He was put in the coop too. I couldn't imagine my female would dominate/attack other females, but she did. Seriously attacked them. I put her in the coop.
By this time the new females were a mess. They looked as if they had developed "tics" like mentally insane people have. Repeatedly bowing the head off to one side in a crazy way. I felt so bad for them.
When the people came to pick up the drake and one Khaki, I gave them instead my two Pekins and my black Cuyuga. I kept both the new female Khaki's.
I hope they will be ok. Is it alright for hens to go thru so much stress? What can I do to help them adjust? My husband and I finally got them in the coop. Tomorrow I think I'll put a kiddie pool in there and let them be confined for a few days without free ranging. I feel I will never win them over now....
This has been so very stressful for me.