Muscovy biting

[samt40]

Hello everyone!
Random question of the day! I have two male and two female Muscovy ducks. One of my males (seeming to be the less dominant of the two) is very dependent on me. This one will follow me everywhere and is so happy about it! The only issue is he bites. He's not biting aggeessively but does do it hard enough to pinch and bruise. Most cases he stops once we let him hop up on our shoulder. If I walk away too fast he chases me down and bites the back of my leg. Anyone have a reason as to why he's doing this or better yet how to make it stop? Now that it's warmer and I'm wearing less long length layers it's easier for him to get me! Someone please save my arms and legs! Lol

 

[Amiga]

He has a case on you - wants you to be his girlfriend. Ducks do not seem to care about species differences.

 

[samt40]

That I could see lol, but does anyone have any ideas how to stop it? Or at least make it better!? He's starting to get extremely vicious to the point where hell attack at random and is starting to really bruise and cut up my arms and legs

 

[HeritageGoose13]

It's good if you can catch him right before he does it, and then say, "No" and gently push him away. If you do this over and over again, he'll eventually give up and stop trying to grab you.

 

[Muscovynmore]

How old is he? Mine occasionally try to pull that kind of stunt when they've just noticed their hormones . . . and when I inform them to please stop, that's the end of it. If he's under/about a year or so, I wouldn't worry about it very much. He'll grow out of it if you teach him not to.

None of mine have ever been vicious when they've gotten older, but it should be possible to stop an older drake's bad behavior, too. But let me tell you how I deal with this.

Ducklings big enough to cause bruises: While it's chomping on you, grab its bill. Grabbing just the top part will keep you from getting bitten. Or you can grab the bottom of his mouth and hold on - it'll stop once it's uncomfortable and try to pull away. Hold on for a minute until it calms down. You're not hurting it - just teaching it that biting can result in something it doesn't like. My babies never get scared and run away when I have to do this - it's awkward for them, but not cruelty. Their own siblings will pull out feathers. Grabbing their bills just gives them something to think about.

Adolescent drakes with hormonal problems: They usually go for my shoes, claws and all. I pick them up by their necks and put them down a few feet away, still holding on. Once the hormonal cloud around their judgement is gone, I let them go and they don't bother me again.

Okay, now before I go on to dealing with adult birds, let me mention a little something about birds. Have you ever seen two adult birds fight? It's upsetting to watch, but it's perfectly natural, and when there's plenty of space, the losing duck does not get injured (unlike pecking birds, which are a whole different ballgame). The winner sits on top of the loser, sticks his bill in those back feathers, and pulls at them for a minute. Then the losing bird leaves. I've seen this thousands of times, from both my ducks and geese, and that's how ducks learn. Now, since ducks establish dominance by pulling at feathers for a minute, I think this is something to take note of. You don't want to ever hurt a bird, but you do want to find a way that the bird will actually understand what you're trying to teach it.

I would never pluck feathers from any bird. But I do recognize that this is a way that ducks naturally communicate with each other. Therefore, here is my advice on dealing with a problematic bird:

Adult duck: Pick it up. Waterfowl will not be harmed if they are picked up by their necks - or anything you can get at, really. Your safety is more important - pick the bird up by its neck and move it away from your body. Then put it on the ground. Hold its head to the ground (this will prevent scratching and will not hurt your bird. It's also what the dominant bird does to the losing bird, so it will help the lesson you're trying to teach your bird). Give it a bit of time to calm down. Then use your other hand to ruffle the feathers at the base of its neck (again, this is natural for birds and you do not need to pull feathers). Stay there for at least a minute, still with your hand in its feathers. Then let the bird go. If it comes at you again, repeat the process. (If you need to get your point across more effectively, you can hold the bird in the air for longer and ruffle his feathers a bit harder.)

Birds respect each other, and it's not fair to birds when people try to hold them to human standards. Talking to a bird in its own language is how it will learn best - and I promise, none of this will hurt or even traumatize your bird.

My ducks are perfectly behaved. The few that have needed a talking-to have never continued their aggressive behavior.

Best of luck to you! I'm sure your Muscovy will settle down soon.

Oh, and if anyone reading this has had problems with aggressive geese, this applies to them, too. Mine are very polite - but only to people who know how to properly deal with aggressive birds.

And let me say that I love my Muscovies, and I could never bear to hurt them. I think they love me, too, but then again, I do feed them and spoil them.

 

[samt40]

Thank you guys very much! I'll definitely give this a shot! He is about a year so why he's doing it is more then likely what you all mentioned. Thanks for the advice! My arms and legs will probably be thanking you! <3

 

[Amykins]

My only concern is this: I have show-quality calls. They're tiny and delicate. I also have a hyper-protective husband who treats my drake like he's made of glass and even though Wobbles thinks he's top duck, attacking his shoes, hands, what-have-you trying to protect his sugar mama (me), he won't do a dang thing that would even risk harming him. I've done the neck thing with him when he was a teenager and thought my hands were apparently sexy and would try to mate with me. Lotsa bruises that summer. Yeesh. But Hils won't do a dang thing to him out of fear of harming him!

So although this is a thread to retrain ducks, any advice on how to retrain husbands?

 

[Muscovynmore]

I hear that males of any type respond well to food and the lack thereof.

But just to be clear: this will only muss up Wobbles' feathers a bit. If anything will be hurt, it'll be your duck's feelings (and frankly, any duck that attacks has enough of an ego already). I'd say ask your husband to read the thread, and consider that while it may be fine for your duck to attack you, it's not fine when it's someone else's (or your own) child. Show duck shouldn't equal a spoiled temperament - just a ridiculously spoiled duck.

I hope it all works out!

(If he's made of glass, just be gentle. He'll be fine, really!)

 

[Amykins]

Oh he is SO spoiled. And I can't be the one to set him straight because I'm not the one being attacked, you know? I'll try showing him this thread but something tells me it may not make much difference Either that or he'll be upset with me for doing the neck maneuver on him before...I've also "mounted" him. It worked okay but it sure was exhausting to do that over and over for minutes on end until he got the hint.

 

[woodlandsprite]

Thank you for the tips...I also have a Muscovy drake that is starting to "attack" me.. I have picked him up and held him, just not by the neck...Before I figured out he was a Muscovy I thought he was coming down with some odd disease with all the bumps and red face...Anyway, will give these a try...