Male duck problem

[claud_wc]

So i have these 5 ducks , 2 males and 3 females ... but one male is so rough that he rips out the hens upper feathers and makes her bleed and nows shes starting to limp , ive tried seperating them and other techniques , but im not sure what else to do. So if anyone could give me advice as to what to do , that would help so much , the photos below are just a small amount of what hes doing and most of the scars have already healed but im afraid he’ll do it again ...

 

[PirateGirl]

Your ratio is a bit off. 2 males with only 3 females can certainly result in over-breeding like this. Is it always the same male? Are the BOTH always going for the "favorite" female? Do the other females look like this too? I would consider re-homing one male or keeping one separate and possibly alternating which male is with the girls.

 

[sourland]

His behavior is not going to improve and will probably escalate next spring during the breeding season. 1 drake is fully capable of fertilizing 3 females. Why not relocate the overly aggressive drake ?

 

[MillersFarm]

x2 The best drake to duck ratio to have is 1:4 to avoid over-breeding problems in ducks..

 

[claud_wc]

"PirateGirl

Yeah its always the same male , the other male doesnt intervene nor attempt to breed with her , and its just one female that is like this the other hens were like this but he suddenly stopped going for the others , he was getting rough with us as well by biteing us but we did this technique where you pin him down for a couple seconds n he stops we did tht for a couple weeks n he eventualy stopped biteing us , but now he doing it to just one female

 

[claud_wc]

I dont want to rehome the aggresive drake becz im extremely close with him , all the ducks are therapy animals for me , but eventualy if i have to rehome one of the males i geus i have to ...

 

[PirateGirl]

It's hard because it's instinctual behavior and you can't watch them 24/7 to intervene. Since you know only one is causing problems then your best bet will be to build him a bachelor pad. 1 duck doesn't require too much space, especially if you are able to let him out into a larger area sometimes. Unfortunately, I doubt you can "train" this behavior out of him, but you can give him some space where he can still see and be near the others without causing harm.

*also if you post pictures of your setup we can help you brainstorm how it can be modified if you need help.