Muscovy drake too aggressive with female

[MikaylaLeslie]

On July 27th of this year I hatched a little Muscovy. He was the only one that hatched so for the first couple days he was with myself or my parents constantly. We were able to find another little Muscovy that was a couple weeks older. We were worried that she would pick on him because of the size difference but from the gate he’s kind of picked on her. I named them Calvin and Susie. He turned into rather needy demanding spoiled little thing. They are the only Muscovy’s we own so we keep them separated from our other ducks. A couple of times we’ve put them with with our welsh harlequins but they’re kind of jerks and charge at them. But we’ve been noticing that Calvin has been increasingly more aggressive toward Susie. We’ve been hearing her sounding upset and figured out he chases her down to get on top of her. She wants no part of it and just hides in the corner. Now I know 1 male and 1 female is not a good ratio but I figured we had more time because they’re still young. Today we were outside and we had them with out with our 6 harlequins. (There’re about 3 months old. 4 females 2 males. The females beat up on the males which I’ve never seen before) One of the females tried to bite Calvin so he spread his wings and jumped right over her. At first it was great because he had always ran away from them. But then he started chasing one down very aggressively with his wings spread to to get on top of her. He was so focused on the female I was able to walk right up and pick him up and carry him back to his pen. It freaked me and my mom out because we’ve never seen such aggression. Little Susie is very sweet and timid and so I don’t want him to hurt her. We’ve thought about getting another female Muscovy to put with them that’s older and maybe will tolerate Calvin more but we still worry about Susie. He’s friendly toward me but I’m worried that will change. But he’s my baby so I really don’t want to get rid of him Does anyone have any suggestions? We don’t eat our animals. We’re vegan in fact. He’s the first one I hatched and I love him dearly so I’m very conflicted. I won’t have him being aggressive toward any of my other ducks but I also don’t want to part with him if I don’t have to. I’ve had Calvin and Susie separated since that incident but neither seem happy. Thank you in advance.

 

[sourland]

Drakes tend to be very hormonal and sex driven - some settle down with maturity, but some never do. Hopefully he is not of the second group. Good luck as a large muscovy drake can do damage.

 

[Quatie]

Muscovy fights look really aggressive but rarely have blood drawn. It sounds like they are working out dominance. If there is no blood, this is perfectly normal for them. My welsh were attacked by my muscovies, but over time they settled down. Now the welsh now they are not at the top of the pecking order and get out of the way. It can be hard to watch, but I have never seen blood being drawn, just a few feathers pulled.

 

[Homyer123]

Anyone know how I can protect my females Muscovy s from the males talons. He is slicing up their backs!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Drake jail... Place him next to them but not where he can get to them. Or clip his nails like you would a dog. My Muscovy has long nails but in almost 12 yrs he has never injured one of his girls. You may find a hen saver but I doubt they would work very well with ducks who get into water to bathe.
http://www.hensaver.com/