Mating bites

[Lucyspals]

My female duck Ethel has a couple missing bite patches on her neck. I have four Perkins two male, two female. I am in Michigan it is about 25 to 40 degrees here. They are all 9.5 months old. We have a aerator in our pond so they mate all the time. Any info on protecting her neck if it gets worse? It's not even spring yet but they are probably confused with are weird weather.

 

[Dougdilman]

My female duck Ethel has a couple missing bite patches on her neck. I have four Perkins two male, two female. I am in Michigan it is about 25 to 40 degrees here. They are all 9.5 months old. We have a aerator in our pond so they mate all the time. Any info on protecting her neck if it gets worse? It's not even spring yet but they are probably confused with are weird weather.

the mating will get alot worse unfortunately

Rubbing vaseline on her neck will buy you a week or soo but those boys will get rougher

 

[MIDuckLady]

My female duck Ethel has a couple missing bite patches on her neck. I have four Perkins two male, two female. I am in Michigan it is about 25 to 40 degrees here. They are all 9.5 months old. We have a aerator in our pond so they mate all the time. Any info on protecting her neck if it gets worse? It's not even spring yet but they are probably confused with are weird weather.

Just the obvious suggestion = get those drakes some more girls or loose a drake...
I like the suggestion about Vaseline just to help maybe in the cooler temps.

 

[Dougdilman]

Just the obvious suggestion = get those drakes some more girls or loose a drake...
I like the suggestion about Vaseline just to help maybe in the cooler temps.

Thats a good idea to so they dont get frost bite, But i use it so the drakes cant get a grip on them

it frustrates them something feirce haha

 

[DuckyDonna]

You might want to consider separating the boys from the girls. I had to do that when I had only 1 drake to 6 girls. He had ripped the neck feathers out of all of them.

After about a week of watching him suffer by himself I opted to put his favorite girl buddy in with him and that worked great. They were both happy and he didn't hurt her. I felt so much better seeing everyone happy and nobody getting hurt.

 

[YodaBat]

You might want to consider separating the boys from the girls. I had to do that when I had only 1 drake to 6 girls. He had ripped the neck feathers out of all of them.

After about a week of watching him suffer by himself I opted to put his favorite girl buddy in with him and that worked great. They were both happy and he didn't hurt her. I felt so much better seeing everyone happy and nobody getting hurt.

I couldn't have said it better. Lift and separate those girls.

 

[chickens really]

That's normal when you have Drakes and Hens. I keep only one Drake and 4 Hens. Two of my Hens have missing feather on their necks. As long as not bleeding it's nothing to worry about.

 

[CanadaEh]

My female duck Ethel has a couple missing bite patches on her neck. I have four Perkins two male, two female. I am in Michigan it is about 25 to 40 degrees here. They are all 9.5 months old. We have a aerator in our pond so they mate all the time. Any info on protecting her neck if it gets worse? It's not even spring yet but they are probably confused with are weird weather.

I have read your topic as "mating mites" initially and could not figure it out

it is probably your drake per duck ratio -> increased frequency of mating per duck. We have had problems with chickens with 1 roo per 7 hens, but no problems with 1 roo per 11 hens. All eggs were still fertile.