rebeccavasey
In the Brooder
- May 27, 2020
- 6
- 10
- 13
Hello! First time posting on here 
I have a garden with a pond and for several months there have been a couple of mallards (male and female) spending the majority of their time here. They're very sweet and we have no problem with them being here, I even bought some duck food to occasionally feed them with so they're quite tame.
Recently a large duck has been coming to our garden as well, I've attached a picture because the closest thing I could find to it was a cayuga duck but I'm not sure that's even right. He was fine at first but after a bit began attacking the male at every possible opportunity, if this was another mallard I would probably be more accepting of it as I know ducks can be aggressive but he is almost double the size. This is presumably to get the female to mate with him (he pins the neck down of the male which I've heard is what they do to compete for a mate) but the female clearly does not want to mate with him as she often tries to protect the male and stays away from the larger one. We have chased him off a couple of times but he keeps coming back.
The other day the female left with him and the drake was clearly very upset about this, he refused to move for most of the day and then was crying out for her when he finally did. She came back the following day along with the larger duck and was very ruffled, her feathers were hanging off her and I assume this was from the larger duck trying to mate with her. When she came back she ran up to the male mallard (clearly preferring to be with him) and they hid together for a night (we chased the other one off) but the larger duck still keeps coming back. We can't be outside all the time to chase him off but we equally don't want to see either of the original two ducks ending up dead or severely injured. We probably shouldn't have got this attached when they are technically wild but the larger duck is a different species (or breed?) to the mallards so it's hardly a fair fight.
We don't know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? Preferably on how to keep the bigger duck away permanently but any suggestions on what to do would be helpful. Thank you
(I attached a photo of the mallards as well)
I have a garden with a pond and for several months there have been a couple of mallards (male and female) spending the majority of their time here. They're very sweet and we have no problem with them being here, I even bought some duck food to occasionally feed them with so they're quite tame.
Recently a large duck has been coming to our garden as well, I've attached a picture because the closest thing I could find to it was a cayuga duck but I'm not sure that's even right. He was fine at first but after a bit began attacking the male at every possible opportunity, if this was another mallard I would probably be more accepting of it as I know ducks can be aggressive but he is almost double the size. This is presumably to get the female to mate with him (he pins the neck down of the male which I've heard is what they do to compete for a mate) but the female clearly does not want to mate with him as she often tries to protect the male and stays away from the larger one. We have chased him off a couple of times but he keeps coming back.
The other day the female left with him and the drake was clearly very upset about this, he refused to move for most of the day and then was crying out for her when he finally did. She came back the following day along with the larger duck and was very ruffled, her feathers were hanging off her and I assume this was from the larger duck trying to mate with her. When she came back she ran up to the male mallard (clearly preferring to be with him) and they hid together for a night (we chased the other one off) but the larger duck still keeps coming back. We can't be outside all the time to chase him off but we equally don't want to see either of the original two ducks ending up dead or severely injured. We probably shouldn't have got this attached when they are technically wild but the larger duck is a different species (or breed?) to the mallards so it's hardly a fair fight.
We don't know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? Preferably on how to keep the bigger duck away permanently but any suggestions on what to do would be helpful. Thank you
(I attached a photo of the mallards as well)
That duck isn’t a Cayuga, is it flying in an out? Looks similar to a couple of drakes we rescued from our mountain river many years ago which I’m pretty sure was a Muscovy mix. Maybe he belongs to someone who lives close by. If not then calling shelters in your area someone may take him in. You’d most likely have to catch him.
