Hi Friends!
About two weeks ago my Indian Runner Duck Katharina, hatched out a total of seven ducklings and since three days they are running around with the rest of the flock. No serious attacks from the other ducks or my two drakes have happened so far, which makes me wonder how do those ducklings find their place within the flock hierarchy?
If you introduce a new duck to your flock, it usually starts out as the lowest ranking bird and has to, literally, fight its way up.
Katharina Duck is one of the higher ranking females in my flock, if not the alpha, even the drakes respect her and i have noticed that her rank seems to have an influence on the ducklings ranks. Most other ducks treat the ducklings respectfully, the White Layers (three times larger!) even bop their heads and take great care not to step on them.
Mom's two sister ducks, also high in rank, behave different: Nona Duck feels motherly towards the little ones too, is defending them, whereas Curiosity Duck pushes them away without being attacked by mama duck.
The other ducks just simply try to stay away from the ducklings as they are being chased away and bitten by mom every time a distress-peep leaves a small bill.
What are your experiences with ducklings, hatched and raised in your flocks?
About two weeks ago my Indian Runner Duck Katharina, hatched out a total of seven ducklings and since three days they are running around with the rest of the flock. No serious attacks from the other ducks or my two drakes have happened so far, which makes me wonder how do those ducklings find their place within the flock hierarchy?
If you introduce a new duck to your flock, it usually starts out as the lowest ranking bird and has to, literally, fight its way up.
Katharina Duck is one of the higher ranking females in my flock, if not the alpha, even the drakes respect her and i have noticed that her rank seems to have an influence on the ducklings ranks. Most other ducks treat the ducklings respectfully, the White Layers (three times larger!) even bop their heads and take great care not to step on them.
Mom's two sister ducks, also high in rank, behave different: Nona Duck feels motherly towards the little ones too, is defending them, whereas Curiosity Duck pushes them away without being attacked by mama duck.
The other ducks just simply try to stay away from the ducklings as they are being chased away and bitten by mom every time a distress-peep leaves a small bill.
What are your experiences with ducklings, hatched and raised in your flocks?