Is my duck attacking me or trying to mate?

[liljenjennc]

I have a female black swedish and male pekin who are just over 3 months old. They are just starting to practice mating. Today I was out playing with them and splashing water at them while they were in their pool like I always do. The female darted over and bit the skin on my arm and climbed on my hand and just kind of wiggled. I tried pulling my arm back but she was really latched on and I had to pry her bill off! Meanwhile the male was clearly upset and got all puffed up and started pecking at the female. Was she trying to mate me or attack me or what? I raised them from babies and they've always been so friendly. I don't want them to turn mean.. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[AtropineCaffein]

My female pekin did something similar..slithered up to me, tried to slither up my leg, yesterday tried to slither up my arm. She gets this "thousand yard stare" then runs up and does this. I was told it was mating behavior.

 

[Amykins]

Yep, that's mating behavior all right, but what I Wanna know is, why was the hen trying to mate with you while the drake just sat and stared?

This happened with my own imprinted duck, too. Poor girl's all sorts of confused! Since this is their first mating season, there's likely to be a bit of confusion and stumbles along the way to figuring out...you know, life. But since you've got that male around for her to (hopefully) pair with, I think things will sort themselves out in time.

 

[Debs Flock]

LOL...great, so that's something to look forward to.

I've got 3 girls (2 Rouens, 1 Pekin) & 1 drake (Pekin) that are now 7 weeks old.

 

[liljenjennc]

Hahaha!! The male just looked so confused!!! These are my first ducks and I'm only familiar with chickens. I think the female seems to be maturing faster than the male. He is normally Co tent to just head bob with her. She will stretch her neck out and flatten out for him but he just keeps bobbing. Lol And the one time I actually saw him get on top of her he was backwards! They're so funny!

 

[Debs Flock]

Hahaha!! The male just looked so confused!!! These are my first ducks and I'm only familiar with chickens. I think the female seems to be maturing faster than the male. He is normally Co tent to just head bob with her. She will stretch her neck out and flatten out for him but he just keeps bobbing. Lol And the one time I actually saw him get on top of her he was backwards! They're so funny!

LOL...I can just picture his look of confusion. It's probably the females (as usual

) that have to teach these drakes how to get things done.

 

[AtropineCaffein]

My male pekins are CLUELESS. She keeps trying to get them interested and they will literally walk away from her to go drink out of a water puddle.

 

[Debs Flock]

My male pekins are CLUELESS. She keeps trying to get them interested and they will literally walk away from her to go drink out of a water puddle.

LOL...guess the get by on their good looks. Love my clueless babies!

 

[Amykins]

Hahaha!! The male just looked so confused!!! These are my first ducks and I'm only familiar with chickens. I think the female seems to be maturing faster than the male. He is normally Co tent to just head bob with her. She will stretch her neck out and flatten out for him but he just keeps bobbing. Lol And the one time I actually saw him get on top of her he was backwards! They're so funny!

That mental picture is priceless! I love the head-bobbing action, ducks always seem so agreeable when they do it, don't they? "Yes?" "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes."

....And then he stands on her like a surfboard because he has no clue what he's doing.

 

[liljenjennc]

That mental picture is priceless! I love the head-bobbing action, ducks always seem so agreeable when they do it, don't they? "Yes?" "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes."

....And then he stands on her like a surfboard because he has no clue what he's doing.

Now I will forever be thinking about the Yes? Yes. Yes?Yes. That is priceless!

I saw them 'do their thing' today the RIGHT way so I waited until 2 hours after to go splash with them. And the girl did it again!! We named them before we knew their sex so Edward is the girl and Melba is the boy.. Live and learn.. But Edward latched on like a vice! Melba just raised his head and neck feathers and made an upset kind of sound but just stood there. Lol Maybe I need to not pool play with them for a while because now I'm sporting 2 bruises!!