Is there a way to train a mallard duck to stop bitting?

[Kevinduckybell]

My almost a years old male mallard has always bitten me. I dont want him to bit anymore. He makes me bleed and sometimes gives me bruises. Is there a way to stop him?

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Bite him back.

Actually he's trying to assert dominance over you and since you let him keep biting you he's now decided he's the King. So now you need to reassert your dominance over him. When he bites you I would grab him and pin him down on the ground and hold his neck and beak down so he can't bite you. Every single time. Eventually he will get the picture.

 

[Kevinduckybell]

Bite him back.

Actually he's trying to assert dominance over you and since you let him keep biting you he's now decided he's the King. So now you need to reassert your dominance over him. When he bites you I would grab him and pin him down on the ground and hold his neck and beak down so he can't bite you. Every single time.  Eventually he will get the picture.

I've tried that a lot. Guess he hasn't gotten it yet but I have a female with him. Can that cause him to be aggressive to?

 

[Orca5094]

I agree you need to reassert dominance over him. When my drake gets bitey (he likes to bite my ankles when I get too close to his girls sometimes), I just grab him and hold him in a little hug for about a minute. I just tell him how much I love him and that he's such a cutie face, etc. He HATES it, but it lets me get some respect back and he stops biting.

 

[Kevinduckybell]

I agree you need to reassert dominance over him. When my drake gets bitey (he likes to bite my ankles when I get too close to his girls sometimes), I just grab him and hold him in a little hug for about a minute. I just tell him how much I love him and that he's such a cutie face, etc. He HATES it, but it lets me get some respect back and he stops biting.

Yes mine bites when he sees feet or moving legs or maybe just skin! Haha but He'll run up to you and bite your legs! I've also tired to give him peas when he lets me touch him. He loves peas!

 

[saulsberry]

Mallard males are very strong willed children ;-)

Mine spits at me, and tries to get away when I have to pick him up. I just try not to handle him or make suddwn movements around him without singing a song first, Ive sung to them since they were day olds.
Or just use a soft re-asurring voice, and turn sideways and approach him and dont make too much eye contact (mallards still have lots of their wild instincts in them) and he will calm down some.

I don't ever do the dominance thing with my males, because I want them to protect their females, and seems counter productive if you want them to earn your trust and accept you as a non-predator in their space.
Mabey if you offered him a green treat every time you came near him he would start associating you with food

Hope this helps,
Jen

 

[saulsberry]

Mallard males are very strong willed children ;-)

Mine spits at me, and tries to get away when I have to pick him up. I just try not to handle him or make suddwn movements around him without singing a song first, Ive sung to them since they were day olds.
Or just use a soft re-asurring voice, and turn sideways and approach him and dont make too much eye contact (mallards still have lots of their wild instincts in them) and he will calm down some.

I don't ever do the dominance thing with my males, because I want them to protect their females, and seems counter productive if you want them to earn your trust and accept you as a non-predator in their space.
Mabey if you offered him a green treat every time you came near him he would start associating you with food

Hope this helps,
Jen

Sorry about all the typos, Im not sure if ppl will take offense to all my posts being edited, so hope you gotthe jist

 

[farm316]

Your male has a female..

In the wild, males will fight over other males for the hen. Your Drake, may be seeing you as that other male. The only problem with this is that he is biting and causing bruises to you. I am with @saulsberry he is trying to protect them. And I wouldn't get in his way, he see's you as the threat and Is trying to do something about it.

For an example: Some lady is accusing you of hitting her, and she hits you back and says 'Thats for being mean to me!' Confused, your wondering what you did to her. The lady comes back and pinches you, next thing you do is 'I am sorry if I did anything wrong to you' The lady then smirks and stands there. You start walking and she sticks her foot out and trips you. What are you going to do? Move her leg back and continue whatever your doing!

Even if you don't mean to hurt him he still has that wild instinct that humans are bad. Not only is he hurting you, he might be hurting you because he is scared of you. Remove yourself from the situation, put him somewhere else with his female and let him be alone with her. If your just pushing him to the ground, and you pick him back up. Then why would he be lovey-dovey? No! He wants to protect himself. If he is aggressive then leave him alone and don't pick him up.

But he's just being aggressive just for the sake!

If your male is being aggressive because he's not scared of you, then as @saulsberry said associate him with food, he will come around.

 

[Kevinduckybell]

Your male has a female.. 

In the wild, males will fight over other males for the hen. Your Drake, may be seeing you as that other male. The only problem with this is that he is biting and causing bruises to you. I am with @saulsberry
 he is trying to protect them. And I wouldn't get in his way, he see's you as the threat and Is trying to do something about it. 

For an example: Some lady is accusing you of hitting her, and she hits you back and says 'Thats for being mean to me!' Confused, your wondering what you did to her. The lady comes back and pinches you, next thing you do is 'I am sorry if I did anything wrong to you' The lady then smirks and stands there. You start walking and she sticks her foot out and trips you. What are you going to do? Move her leg back and continue whatever your doing!

Even if you don't mean to hurt him he still has that wild instinct that humans are bad. Not only is he hurting you, he might be hurting you because he is scared of you. Remove yourself from the situation, put him somewhere else with his female and let him be alone with her. If your just pushing him to the ground, and you pick him back up. Then why would he be lovey-dovey? No! He wants to protect himself. If he is aggressive then leave him alone and don't pick him up. 

But he's just being aggressive just for the sake!

If your male is being aggressive because he's not scared of you, then as @saulsberry
 said associate him with food, he will come around. 

Both my male and female have been together since they hatched. They cant leave eachother. When i try to seperate them they both go nuts! So it could be that he is protecting her. And i do give them peas everyday so he can get close to me without biting me and knowing that I'm no threat to him or her.