Khaki bully

[KLoudon81]

Hi everyone.
My husband and I are new to ducks. We purchased 6 ducklings and 4 of them will be ready to move outside soon, 2 Rouens and 2 Khaki Campbells. The khakis are both girls as is 1 of the rouens. When they were very little, they all shared the same space, but we had to separate them into pairs as they got larger, due to lack of space. The duck run that is being built is quite large though. On nice days, I have been letting them outside with a dog/toddler play yard fencing them in. The problem is that,any time they are all together again, the one khaki starts to peck at and rip feathers out of everyone else. We purchased them with intent to use them for eggs,but we cant have her in our flock if this will continue. Aside from culling, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Amiga]

Introduce her slowly. Let her see her flockmates without being able to touch them for a few days.

Feed treats all at the same time.

Spend some extra time with them as you can, it might help.

Let them be together for short supervised time periods. If she does more than pokee and chase a little, time her out again and try again later.

Please keep us posted.

 

[KLoudon81]

I've been trying multiple meetings with nothing helping. Today was a big day though. Our duck run is finally complete! The ducklings are 6 weeks old now and almost ready to live outdoors. I have been taking them out for a while now, but they were in a doggie playpen together when they were. Our new duck run is rather large, plenty of room for everyone. Before bringing them out, I held the khaki bully on her back while allowing the others ducks to gently nip/preen her. They also kept putting their head and neck on hers, pushing it down while I was holding her on her back. I assume this was a display of dominance. I was hoping that this might help her become more submissive with them. I let all the others in the run first, then let her in after. This was the best they have ever gotten along. They were all trying to show dominance on and off, but then quickly got over it. Within a 3-4 hour play session together, I only had to intervene 2 times when she was getting too aggressive and ripped a couple of feathers out of another duck. Both times were when they were in the kiddie pool. I'm hoping that this will all straighten out as they spend more time together. If close quarters is the problem, I'm afraid of what might happen when they are couped up in the duck house at night.

 

[chickens really]

You could try giving them some fish based dry cat kibbles...That will up the protein and might stop the feather pulling?....I toss it on the ground..My Ducks love it..


Best wishes..

 

[Waddlein]

Poultry is cruel, that happens with my chickens the biggest one lords it over the other, but after a while it will kinda stop (ish)

 

[KLoudon81]

Update: The bully has finally settled down. It looks like it was all part of the pecking order, and she really wanted to be at the top. Now we've been trying to add our younger Welsh Harliquens into the flock gradually, and the whole thing started over. The funny thing is that the original khaki bully shows no interest in them. The other two girls are the ones picking one the WHs. Things are starting to calm down for them too though. Not much feather pulling anymore, mainly just charging at them. Even that is becoming less and less. I guess some ducks just have a more agressive pecking order than i thought. It has been difficult watching them straighten everything out, but I guess it just has to run its course.