Killer duck......

[Abriana]

My goodness, that's is very unusual. I know that chickens can be very cannibalistic but I've never heard of ducks killing each other.

If that were my duck (and I only have chickens, as of this moment) I'd never trust her again around other ducks. Personally, I would not keep her.

 

[Loopeend]

Birds don't learn about giving and taking. They're animals, they're not intelligent enough for most of what you're describing.
She wasn't intentionally looking innocent because she knew that you didn't want her doing that. She's a duck. Ducks are not capable of looking at animals of other species and deciding what they want, that's a very complex series of thoughts.

Either she had a hormone issue making her aggressive that resolved itself, or she got beaten up and ignored by the others every time she was aggressive until she figured out that acting not aggressive was what got her not beaten up and ignored. Basic "if I do A, then B. If I don't do A, then C" is much more simple than "the humans don't want me to do this, so I'll look innocent". How would a duck even know what a human thinks is an innocent look?
It's also possible that the current leader beat her up, and she doesn't attack it because she doesn't think she could beat it in a fight.

They sure can.

I'm not saying that they are so smart to go from A to B to C.
But they can learn that A results in B.
They can learn that A. killed off ducks means B. Humans not in a mood to give snacks.
And they can connect that killing ducks = no snacks.
And happy humans = snacks.

And they are capable just like toddlers to go to C. Many times they try to come inside with a lot of noise. We chase them away. Next step; trying to get inside but then 'be silent'. And just like a group of todlers the are loudly whispering 'shhhh!!! be silent! otherwise they will hear us!! SHHHHHH!'.

I'm not making ducks human. I use human situations to make more clear what happens in duck life. And for real; this duck by that time knew exactly that killing other ducks did not give a positive response. And it tried to act innocent. It's one of the basic instincts animals have. And we as humans too.

Ducks áre capable to act upon animals of other species. They react very different to humans, cats, dogs, geese/storks/other ducks that fly over, mice, etc.

The rest of your story is actually repeating what I am saying. Please don't be so hostile. We are all fowl-people with the same interest in mind.

 

[Loopeend]

Main issue is it isnt soup yet

Iam sure loopend meant it semi sarcasticly and joking about most of it

If i owned a duck like that ide eat it

Not joking or sarcastic. And we truely doubted to eat her many times. But we chose (because we could) to put her in a situation that totally shifted the hierachy and she was at the bottom. If that didn't work it's the bbq. But it worked.

 

[MissChick@dee]

She killed once. You got more she killed again. I don’t understand what there is to think about.

 

[Kessel23]

I have seen hens fight before, never had any ducks kill each other but I have heard of it. Ducks don't peck when they fight, they bite, when mine fight they are usually aiming for the other one's head, neck, and crop and the feathers there can get pretty ruffled if the fight lasts a while. I figured out today how aggressive they can get when there is a limited resource, I filled up a tiny tub for the ducks to swim in because of how nice the weather was, it was the first time they got to go swimming in a while and there was a lot of fighting over the water.

Keep your eye on that tiny Rouen hen, just being a huge bully the entire time until the Muscovy hybrid catches her on the head. I would not be surprised if a duck hen was able to kill another duck, especially if it was only targeted on one or two birds. This hen did no serious damage because there was so many birds and the bites were spread out between them, not all focused on one.

 

[Loopeend]

She killed once. You got more she killed again. I don’t understand what there is to think about.

I try to get through that shifting the total hierachy, her being at the bottom, can be a last resort. I don't like it. I cry and my male partner too. But after thát last resort you gave anything and sometimes you have no other option to cull it. But before culling it every other option needs to be tried. If she can not handle to be at the bottom and keeps killing; byeee lady duck. You had your chances. Didn't take it.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Animals can't track consequences for long periods of time. If a duck is killed, and then, later, you don't give snacks, they don't understand the connection. If you saw her attack another duck and immediately did something like pick her up and throw her, she could understand that. Lack of action is harder, though, especially if it's not a specific action at a specific time. You only give treats sometimes, I assume, so they aren't likely to understand that this particular lack of treats is related to something. Even if you came over and made a specific noise every time there weren't treats, it would take them a long time to learn about that specific connection.
And they aren't whispering to each other to be quiet. They're communicating, but more quietly. That's also a much simpler process, the instinctive urge to be quieter when trying to escape notice.

 

[chickens really]

Hello. That's a terrible thing to happen. To answer your question if Hens will kill Hens the answer is yes. All animals have the potential to kill each other. Possibly she has a hormone imbalance?..

 

[Miss Lydia]

I just hope if it was a predator that it didn’t come back last night and kill the remaining duck. Oh and having Muscovys who love a good fight man the drakes can fight to kill it’s happened here, since 2004 when I started with Muscovy I have watched my girls fight many times and it is usually chase one down stand over top peck some to get the point across that she is top duck for the week. Then one on the bottom gets let up and she runs off. Never has any blood been drawn or any other injury.

 

[Silkie2]

Thank you everyone for the responses.. all of my ducks are gone. The duck who i thought had been attacking other ducks was found dead by herself. This spring I’ll be patching,filling, securing every hole and small space once the snow is gone.. More chicks and ducks this spring (Once everything is patched up and secure) i just feel like crap because looking back i COULD’VE put the duck in a crate and I should’ve. I just wasn’t thinking..

Anyways,, here are the tracks i’ve found leading to the duck house (i was so oblivious to not even notice)

Yes i know. A weasel could probably fit through those holes..
definitely looks like it has a tail. And two different looking tracks???

We’re thinking it most likely is coming from the brook (we have a brook/meadow in the woods behind the runs) and living underneath the barn

We’ve NEVER had a weasel or a upossum problem with the chickens, especially in the winter. It’s usually the hawks we’re always looking for. Any ideas as to what i should use for a trap or how to catch this thing?? Our old trap broke when we were catching a groundhog in the garden (so much annoying wildlife here lol) And any idea after looking at the tracks what it might be? I’ve heard weasels will kill just to kill. And that looks like the case. The remaining duck had just a chewed neck..