I love chickens, but sometimes i think they are the meanest/ dumbest animals on the face of the earth. I bought 2 pekin ducks and 1 mallard from TSC about 3 weeks ago. The ducks were with my chicks which were about the same age. Well, the ducks must have found some steroids or something cause they GREW. before long the were out off the hutch and in with the layers, aka the older chickens. to my surprise they were excepted right away. They cuddled with the other Muscovy ducks and swam around like they were their forever.I went out to the coop a couple days ago and looked at one of my pekins to see that both of his sides were bloody and missing feathers. i ran in and saw that the chickens had torn up his entire side. i put him and his two friends in a cage by themselves. after two days the wound had healed and i placed them back out, watching them intensly. I locked them up for the night, went out around 5:45 am this morning and they were fine. i got home today and one pekin and the mallard were being chased around by two chickens. I grapped the ducks, kicked the chickens, and put the ducks in the huch they were in first. i left the one healthy one out since the hutch is only big enough for two. Then i had to put the chicks in the small coop and it was just a hectic day. I needed to tell someone this because my mom and sister don't like listening to my "stories". Also, if a duck is quaking before the other two, does that mean its a drake? I've only had muscovys so i wouldn't know.
Have you seen Jurassic Park? Your chickens are not mean. Their behavior is entirely normal. Kicking them, now that is mean. Grown chickens should be seperated from younger growing animals. The pin feathers and blood are a great source of protein. It's all about survival. Drakes don't quack- ducks do. Drakes make a coarse, whispery more muted sound.
Quote:I understand, you were trying to protect your ducklings. I know, your kicking the chicken was more out of instinct than a desire to be mean, but you gotta be careful because you can seriously hurt a chicken doing that, not to mention that you are challenging it. sourland is right that the pin feathers are a great source of protein, and the chickens probably need to have their attention turned elsewhere, and maybe a teeny bit more protein added to their food. And if I were you I would try to keep those ducklings in an area away from the adult chickens, until they are a little older and can handle themselves better. I just added my ducklings in with my Bantam flock a few weeks back and had no problems at all, however, my ducklings are massive compared to the chickens, and they already had a Mallard pair in there with them and ducks don't really seem to phase them much. My ducklings are Swedish. I had not anticipated them getting to be so much bigger than my Mallards, but they are gentle and the chickens don't mind them. Now, if I had added them in with my Standard flock, that's a different story! I would have waiting until they were at least 6 months old. Is there a way that you can build a pen for your ducklings near the chickens, but that the chickens cannot get into? See, my adult Mallard hen will take no crap from anybody, chicken or otherwise, and she can get crabby, but these Swede babies are so gentle and sweet that it would be easy to bully them. I'm so glad my chickens are so nice! The best advice I can offer for now is to separate them from the chickens, but not remove them from sight of the chickens. You want the chickens to see them, but not have access. That gives them a chance to get used to the ducks, and grow accustom to them being around, and eventually grown bored of them. Hopefully by that time the ducks will be big enough that the chickens won't want to mess with them. Good luck though!
