Marceline, our new inside duck

[PBGGG]

Hey, guys!

We have 8 ducks currently, Goonder, Gunther, Gunter, Princess, Lady Rainicorn, Tree Trunks, Beemo, and Marceline. We started out with 4 back in June, and a few months later we realized we need more males, because the 3 boys were picking on Princess (the only female.) We got Tree Trunks and Marceline sometime in October, and then Lady Rainicorn and Beemo earlier this year.




The boys have been picking on Marceline a lot. Her neck was bare, and at night we would usually lock someone up to prevent them from doing anything else to her. Yesterday, I went outside to see this

Marcy was sitting right on top of the blood. I started freaking out and my parents came outside to see. We thought it was her vent, either from overmating or from the huge eggs we have been getting. We tried to catch her and pick her up, and the poor girl had blood dripping everywhere. We finally caught her and brought her inside.


She took a bath (this was last night around 5pm) and we put her in a run in the living room.

They pecked all the feathers off her side and that caused the bleeding. We were so happy it wasn't her vent! Her side is all healed, and she is still resting now. We are planning on keeping her inside for a few days to see how it goes.

 

[sourland]

Once drakes start competitively gang breeding the ducks it can become a very hard habit to break. The best solution would be to rehome two of the drakes. If your ducks have access to a pool/pond and the drakes start gang breeding a hen there, they may very well drown her.

 

[PBGGG]

We are hoping not to get rid of them. We do have a pool but they don't really swim in the wintertime. The boys aren't picking on any others yet.

 

[sourland]

Monitor carefully when you reintroduce the hen to the flock. My gut tells me that the drakes will immediately start attacking her. Once a target generally equates to always a target. The day length is increasing. Along with this the testosterone levels in your drakes is increasing. The next several months will be spent in a frenzy of mating so that their DNA gets passed on. Good luck, and keep a close eye that they do not start gang breeding another hen.

 

[PBGGG]

We are probably just going to slap a diaper on her when she heals and leave her inside. Thank you though!