Injured duck re introduction to small flock

[weeflock]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Ducks - I have 3 Muscovy females, 13 months old. 9 days ago my lowman on the totem pole, Lucy, was attacked by my dog. She survived and I have just put her back out with my other two - who promptly attacked her. I anticipated this and had redone the enclosure so she could be separated. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to re introduce and does anyone have any pointers? I know what to do with Dogs, Horses and Chickens, if that helps. The ducks have been a hard adjustment for me - I thought they would be similar enough to my chickens, but I can see that there is whole new world of behavior to learn. I have been able to do some clicker training with my chickens, but these ducks are so darn fearful, I just don't know how to proceed and the injured duck threw a big wrench in my progress with them. I got them 3 months ago together and my understanding was that they came from a meat duck producer who was over crowded. I guess you could consider it a rescue situation.
Thanks!

 

[Onlyducks]

Your injured duck has to be completely healed before it can go back with the others. Ducks will often attack any other duck that looks or acts injured. Generally, as long as I waited until the duck was completely healed, the others would let the duck come back without problems. In one case though, the other ducks would attack the "healed" one if it so much as limped. You'll want to keep an eye on them for a while. Ducks are very much individuals and what you see in one case doesn't always carry over to another cae. (My muscovy let me know her leg was all better and she wanted back with the others by climbing up the side of the not-covered isolation pen and standing on top of the muscovy house in the covered pen!)