Little Duck Syndrome...

[DoodlesDuckies]

Morning. I have a duck that is a female. She is a Cayuga mix and is the smallest of the flock, also the LOUDEST. She will be drinking and another will come up and she pushes them away from the water till she is done. She will go out of her way to LOUDLY quack to anyone who will listen ( the rest roll their eyes at her). Bump others out of her way and they all tolerate her. She isn't doing any harm to anyone- no feather pulling or chasing. Just obvious flipping of the webbed middle toe across the yard or squeezing through the crowd. She is the loud, obnoxious girl that is annoying at the party. I find her very entertaining but just seems like the classic "little duck syndrome".

Thoughts?
Thanks
Renee

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My khaki is the same way with her flock I think they're just making up for their size

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

My khaki is the same way with her flock I think they're just making up for their size

Harmless behavior for now I would think...they are all about 9 weeks old. Figuring out life.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Morning. I have a duck that is a female. She is a Cayuga mix and is the smallest of the flock, also the LOUDEST. She will be drinking and another will come up and she pushes them away from the water till she is done. She will go out of her way to LOUDLY quack to anyone who will listen ( the rest roll their eyes at her). Bump others out of her way and they all tolerate her. She isn't doing any harm to anyone- no feather pulling or chasing. Just obvious flipping of the webbed middle toe across the yard or squeezing through the crowd. She is the loud, obnoxious girl that is annoying at the party. I find her very entertaining but just seems like the classic "little duck syndrome".

Thoughts?
Thanks
Renee

I wouldn’t say little duck syndrome as much as ensuring her survival. In the wild the smaller/runts are usually easiest to bully and first to get picked off by predators. Being smaller than everyone else usually results in everyone seeing you as weaker than the rest. It’s survival of the fittest. She is just making sure that she doesn’t get pushed aside. I grew up on a farm and now own my own farm so I can say with first hand experience that the smaller/runts in most cases are the last to eat, drink and get shelter if they do not assert themselves into the hierarchy right away. Many times with ranching and farming the runts are removed shortly after birth to be bottle fed/hand raised separately or they do not survive. It’s like high school. The bigger ones have a natural tendency to push around the smaller guys unless the smaller guys stand up for themself or someone else intervenes.