Mr. Drake is attacking one of his girls. Please help.

[quackerbox]

Hello! I have three ducks. A mallard drake, a mallard hen, and a khaki campbell hen. They are four years old. They have been raised together. Up until now they were a happy little family. My drake has started to attack my khaki and pull the feathers out from under her wings. He also chases her away from the other hen. The khaki just finished a molt, and is not laying yet. The mallards are at the tail end of a molt. At first I thought he was trying to "take care of business", but this is so much more aggressive than usual. He chases her and grabs her wings, bites her head and pulls out her feathers. Poor little girl gets no rest and I don't think she really has a chance to eat. I've separated the drake from the hens. Should I just keep him in his own pen until his hormones calm down or should I start planning some more permanent housing for one of my babies? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! This is heartbreaking!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello! I have three ducks. A mallard drake, a mallard hen, and a khaki campbell hen. They are four years old. They have been raised together. Up until now they were a happy little family. My drake has started to attack my khaki and pull the feathers out from under her wings. He also chases her away from the other hen. The khaki just finished a molt, and is not laying yet. The mallards are at the tail end of a molt. At first I thought he was trying to "take care of business", but this is so much more aggressive than usual. He chases her and grabs her wings, bites her head and pulls out her feathers. Poor little girl gets no rest and I don't think she really has a chance to eat. I've separated the drake from the hens. Should I just keep him in his own pen until his hormones calm down or should I start planning some more permanent housing for one of my babies? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! This is heartbreaking!

Keep the 2 girls together or get more hens, drakes can be brutal and why make her life miserable and possibly her life in danger. keep it where they can see each other but thats it, probably towards end of summer he may calm down enough where they can all be together again.

And

 

[quackerbox]

Thank you for your help. I'm just stumped as to what in the world happened. They used to get along so well. We are going to build Mr. Drake a place of his own and hope they work this out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for your help. I'm just stumped as to what in the world happened. They used to get along so well. We are going to build Mr. Drake a place of his own and hope they work this out.

It's very hard to get into the mind of a Drake, better yet who would want to with all that testosterone floating around. My youngest drake acts like an idiot at times but not to his girls to my oldest drakes girls, it's just the way they are. Crazy! Wish I could give you a solid answer just don't have one.

and maybe after you give him sometime out in his own space and your girl recovers, you can let them all out together at times under supervision and see how it goes.

 

[Amiga]

Yes, get him into time out.