making friends??

[khittikhatt]

Which of these things is not like the other?

I've got this Muscovy hen that my other ducks are not nice to. She likes the chickens and perches with them in their house every night. We took the drake out today for a few hours hoping the girls would hang with her, but that didn't happen. When we put him back in he chased the Muscovy around and was obnoxious until she went into the house. We are planning on making a duck area with their own pond and all. My plan was to put all the girls in there for a few days, then bring the drake in so he'll be the new guy. Think that will work? Got any other suggestions?

 

[MimiEggs]

Questions: How long have you had the "hen" that perches with the chickens? How old is she? and finally Are you absolutely positive she is "a she"?

 

[jdywntr]

It is a female.

Do you have roosts in the duck house? Muscovy like to roost so she is going to want to sleep where there are roosts. She may also not like being the only one that roosts and may prefer to roost close to others so may always want to sleep with the chickens. Depending on how long you have had her, they may need more time to become friends. You can try to remove the drake and then reintroduce him later. It may or may not work since the ducks also don't like her.

 

[khittikhatt]

We don't have the house built yet, it's phase two and were waiting for the ground to thaw. When we do, I'll certainly build in a perch. I'm totally unfamiliar with muscovies. It was a 'take her to save her' situation. She seems happy with the big hens, so maybe I'll leave her there.

The ducks seem to follow the lead of the drake. When he was out, they were OK, not friendly, but didn't chase her. They were more concerned on listening to where he was!