Male Mallard biting and chasing other female duck

[IGmom]

Hi All,
We have a male mallard that is about a year old and he is with a female mallard and a female domestic(?). She is at least twice his size. Anyway, this spring around first part of April maybe even late March he was clearly trying to mate with both females. The domestic went broody but all her eggs rotted in the nest. The female mallard lays eggs every day but never goes broody. We have several questions:
1) Why is he suddenly chasing, pecking, running off, the domestic? He is not being nice. Then he runs back to the female mallard.
2)This is the biggest question of all....Why do we have to give baby ducks special food, heat, etc. when they don't get it in the wild???
3) We threw out a bunch of rotten eggs and the others my husband put under the chickens to hatch. We really didn't expect them to hatch but now they are, what to do? Let them hatch then put in the brooder box?

 

[LadyIsadora]

1) no clue
2) because mortality rates greatly improve when we step in and give the babies good nutrition and the heat they need to grow healthy & happy. Also most domestics make terrible parents from what I have read.
3) I would let them hatch out & put them in a brooder box. They wont have the oils from momma duck on them so they will not be water or draft resistant. BUT I have not been there yet so...IDK.

Good luck!

 

[TheTwoRoos]

1.She could be sick.Most birds kill the weak sick ones.I have three drakes who were introduced to my flock with already 2 drakes,and they are mean to the females,and I think it's just because the hens are not submisive to them.If the hen is not being very submisive,this could be the reason.
2.Because they don't have a mother,and in the wild they do.You don't have to feed them poultry feed.Grass,and things that the mothers would probably give them will keep then alive.

 

[Amiga]

Similar to the other answers,

1) Why is he suddenly chasing, pecking, running off, the domestic? He is not being nice. Then he runs back to the female mallard.

Ducks do many weird things due to hormones.

2)This is the biggest question of all....Why do we have to give baby ducks special food, heat, etc. when they don't get it in the wild???

Domestic ducks are so different in many ways from wild mallards - we have bred them to be very dependent upon us - in return, we get domestic fowl for eggs and meat. Many wild baby ducks die before they mature.

3) We threw out a bunch of rotten eggs and the others my husband put under the chickens to hatch. We really didn't expect them to hatch but now they are, what to do? Let them hatch then put in the brooder box? That's how many people do it.