Is my duck a loner?

[CumberlandMills]

He was waiting outside their enclosure when I went back out. I have put him back in for the night and one of the drakes immediately began chasing after him. I suppose he's better safe than fox food, but it is sad to watch. We'll continue giving him some private evening time at the pond until we can come up with a better solution.

 

[Amiga]

I have had to split the pens when there is aggression that gets to be too much. Ours is related to mating season, so it's not all year but it is half the year. Sigh. I keep hoping things will resolve - but I would rather have the minor inconvenience of splitting them into two groups than the risk of excessively high stress.

 

[CumberlandMills]

This morning my loner looked like it had been ground into the dirt all night. I've taken it to our smaller pond alone to see if that'll give him a break. I think I've got too many males. I have 5 males and three females who were grossly abused during the winter by what amounted to gang rape. My agresive males even go after the visiting wild ducks. I am thinking of putting down the most aggressive males until peace is achieved or I've evened out the numbers, whichever comes first.

 

[Amiga]

It is up to you to prevent injuries. Too many drakes for them to be all together.

 

[CumberlandMills]

Thanks, you're right. This morning it looked like he'd been ground into the dirt all night. He left with the rest, and one drake turned on him half way to the pond. I split them up and caught our loner and took him to a smaller pond on the other side of the house with a dish of food. He had a relaxed day in and out of the pond and for part of the day, our very domestic drake, Christy waddled over their with his buddy Helen Hen. They hung out at least adjacent, most of the afternoon. This evening I caught the loner and set him u in a rabbit hutch for the night with food and water. Nevertheless, 2 or three drakes are going to have to go by fall, starting with the most aggressive. Ugh! Thx again for your thoughts.