male duck attacking...

[Elly]

I have three orphan ducks that I raised since last fall. They are free range and come and go as they please from the barn. My problem is that I also have free range hens that the male duck will attack. It almost seems like he tries to mate with him as he tries to climb on top of them like does with the two female ducks.... What is his problem? can he hurt my hens...they are getting a little spooked by him and won't come near the barn now.Will this stop on it's own. Any suggestion would be great.

new duck mom

 

[Wifezilla]

He IS trying to mate with them. Male ducks are not that picky

You might want to get him a few more duck girlfriends, but that is still no guarantee your little Romeo will leave the chickens alone.

 

[MDC]

Was he brooded with them? That will lead to an inter-species romance (bonding) a lot of times I have found.

Yes, he can hurt and/or kill them if he's too aggressive or violates one particular hen, etc. They can even kill ducks if they're over-bred. You can pen them separately; I am not optimistic that you will ever break this behavior. Personally, the times that I had obnoxious drakes that raped my cripple goose I sent them to the meat buyer and cured their behavior. None of my home-grown Muscovy have ever done this but one of two that I had bought was very bad about it.

If you're going to attempt to break him of this behavior he needs instant consequences every time he goes after a chicken and they need to be very persuasive consequences so that appropriate behavior really looks appealing over inappropriate behavior. I personally see that as being the only way he'll ever choose to not rape your chickens. That's my opinion, FWIW!

 

[Birch Run Farm]

I keep a 'BMU' handy for when my drake gets aggressive. He's about to spend some time in it again, my second hen is nesting now and the other one has 9 ducklings. I noticed turkey feathers in the barn yard when I got home yesterday. Dufuss, the drake, is not taking bachelorhood well again. He attacks the turkeys and starts grabbing the cuckoo marans hens.

BTW- BMU stands for behavior modification unit, a 'jail' term. It is a wire dog crate and I use it to break broodies if necessary and for Dufuss when he aquires a bad attitude. He's going in tonight for a week to cool off.

 

[sunflowerbc]

Hi Elly. We have had the same problem. We had 2 ducks that were actually raping our female geese and chasing them around even though he was half their size. We found them a different home since because once they start they don't stop. Recently we are having the same thing with our male goose raping our female muscovy in the pond. Not only that, the female goose is pecking at the muscovy and trying to hurt her because of it (jealousy I think). Anyways, the muscovy is so little & I am worried that she may drown or get hurt so we are at a standstill on this new issue. I will try to watch when they are in the pond I guess. One has to be concerned because the littler females, like your hens could have their backs broken or their legs will be hurt from the weight of the duck. We have had that happen too. It's sad and it's crazy LOL and I am wondering if we should just stick with one breed only....or just have all females in the bigger animals like ducks & geese so the chickens will be ok. My hubby doesn't agree with me & it's becoming an issue with us LOL but I am getting disgusted with male animals alone. If I have it my way in the end the only male animals in our yard will be the 2 roosters and the rest of the breeds all female LOL

 

[Dances with Ducks]

sunflowerbc sounds like you need to get a bunch of dogcrates!

 

[Mom 2em All]

I saw this behavior last year with the drakes at my brother in laws- they really are rough and nasty when they choose a hen to mate. They grabbed the hens neck feathers/head feathers and well, the experience was way too traumatic- four drakes with the same favorite hen. I told my brother in law that the drakes really would be happier as Sunday dinner. I think that will cure such behaviors.

 

[kysilkies]

We just noticed this behavior with our Muscovies and Silkies...We're working on separate housing as I type...

 

[afeatherfan]

Quote:
Exactly what I did except I never ate him I gave it away. Sometimes ya got to what ya have to when you live on a farm..drakes can be so nasty at times.

 

[Americanas]

We are new to raising chickens, still in our first year. We had 10 Americanas and now we are down to 5. 3 died accidental deaths. Our last two their butts fell out (I know nothing including technical jargon - sorry to be crass). Our black duck was raping the chickens. A call to the vet college quickly confirmed that he was the reason for this butt issue and it would happen if he continued raping the chickens.
Needless to say my husband had our little duck meet his maker today. I mean the duck was still trying to rape the hurt chicken. That poor chicken it was so sad and SICK!

This "farmstead" has experienced its very last duck!