i dont know what to do or where to post anconas are attacking my roo

[prov31gal]

we have a silver laced cochin roo who ha s always gotten along with all the other birds including our brahma roo and our ancona duck pair. the last few days the ducks have specifically targeted him, they chase himm, bite him, corner him and attack him, they somtimes will not allow him out of the chicken house and they are ripping mouthfuls of feathers out of him. its awful! hes just staying in the house on the highest perch so they wont get him. im afraid hell starve, they wont let him eat. ive never in all my years seen anything like it. they share an enclosure, and ive known ducks and chickens getting along very well for years. they dont bother any other chooks , i dont know whats going on.

 

[slorette]

decide which you like better ( I vote for the Roo) & get rid of the other!

 

[prov31gal]

why do you think they would suddenly turn on him? and why the rooster? are they trying to assert dominance over the whole yard? its the male AND female anconas coming after poor Spooky rooster . he did just begin crowing last week. could this be upsetting them?

 

[katharinad]

Time to divide the chick house and outdoor run. Give each breed their own space. I don't know why they do that, but something is setting them off. Animals do the with other animals that don't appear to be normal. I guess the roo no longer looks normal to them, especially after they have stressed him out that much.

 

[prov31gal]

they are a heritage breed duck, so i really dont want to eat them, im trying to build up a population, and have only 1 drake at this point, so i dont really want to eat him. im thinking well just have to build the ducks their own enclosure, since there so mean to my poor rooster.
you know, im thinking........................spooky rooster and mr.president , my 2 roos were sorting out their dominance over the last week or so. not fighting but just puffing up and mr. president always backed down. but if the ducks ever saw it...and i mean from all the way across the yard, they come running and then quack quack quack at the 2 roos and get in the middle, it was funny like they were trying to break up a fight, but since spooky rooster is now the top roo they are attacking him, when before they had no interest at all.

 

[treldib]

Quote:
Do you get rid of your children when they fight? The OP may have a sentimental bond to all of them and may want to get this fixed instead of unfairly getting rid of them.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

Sounds like overcrowding to me. I've never had a single issue between turkeys, guineas, chickens, muscovies, welsh Harlequins, and geese - because mine free range 24/7. If free ranging isn't possible for some reason (I can free range because I haven't lost a bird here in like 8 years to predators, and my yard/pastures are perimiter fenced) then increasing the run sizes or building multiple runs is necessary. Offering mutliple sources of housing, water, and feed is also necessary as flock size increases.

 

[prov31gal]

Quote:
i dont think they are over crowded, in fact its quite the oposite, my husband recently expanded the runm almost doubleing it, and we dispatched 5 chooks only a few weeks ago, so if anything there is more room and less birds. plus they dont even need to be in the run for the ducks to begin the fighting, they can be out and doing their own thing and the ducks will come aaalllllll the way from the other side of the back yard in order to bite the minute they set eyes on the rooster. they have just decide to make war and thats that! but interestingly, we have 1 roo that never crows, and now that spooky rooster has been dethroned so to speak, he began crowing and now the ducks are after HIM too!
im at a loss. we can eat mr. president, the second roo, but spooky rooster is a flipping member of the family as for as my 3 year old son is concerned. i mean , id eat him, but we may as well be eating one of the other children, thats how important spooky rooster is. its insane, i know.
and the ducks! i had all these pland for the ducks! since they are ancoa i had wanted to increase there numbers, create a little population. and with just 1 drake, a really pretty one too, i cant eat him or sell him because my older kids would be disappointed and they really are nice ducks to everyone else!
it just a mess. were going to have to pen up the ducks, so they cant bite anymore.

 

[PatS]

A few weeks ago my turkeys were making life miserable for a couple of my (chicken) hens. Now they have calmed down. I would give it some time. The roo can hide out on the top roost when he fears for his safety, tight? This may pass on its own.

 

[katharinad]

This may be a far fetched try, but it may work. Many members that have ducks that attack them started to mount their ducks to show dominance. You basically kneel over their backs and hold their heads to the ground with a stretched out neck. You do that for a few minutes or until they give up. This may has to be repeated a few times until they get it and no longer attack that person. I would say do that with the roo involved. Probably a 2 person job. One holds down the male duck and anther one puts the roo onto the ducks back and hold them both there. You only need the dominant duck, because the other one will learn and follow the dominant one without being mounted. It's worse a try.