Muscovy ducks murdering each other.

[foxhomechickens]

They dont try to hurt the runner ducks or chickens but last week four were murdered and there were about four attempted murders. They nip at various spots on the body but favour the hind end. At least one of the dead had his brain eaten. Why do they do this?

 

[Goat_Walker]

I think you need some new ducks. How did they grow up? What is their background? What is the gender ratio? And what ages?

 

[foxhomechickens]

they were all barn raised but let outside during nice weather. They are all about 10 weeks old except for one hen whos about a year old. A few of the muscovys are mixed with blue swedish.
i am unsure of the gender ratio.

 

[drdoolittle]

That's horrible! I don't know much about muscovies, but I would probably get rid of them.

 

[Goat_Walker]

How much space do they have to roam? How many are in your flock? Are they fighting over food? Females? Or just having problems with cliques? also - even as mules the muscovies should be able to tell the sex of by now. If you have an pictures we could tell for sure who the drakes are. You might have too many drakes or it might just be nasty ducks - ive personaly only ever had fighting problems among drakes, even when there were plenty of hens.

 

[Mom 2em All]

Are you sure its the muscovy doing that? Sounds more like a weasel to me.

 

[Caprice_Acres]

I second the predator. Not normal muscovoy behavior, at all. I don't even know how they'd manage those kinds of wounds. The only reason I could imagine they would ever do that would be insane boredom from cramped conditions, overcrowding, severe malnutrition... And even then I bet they wouldn't have this behavior.

 

[sourland]

Are you sure it's not a mink or weasel? Sounds like bizarre behavior for muscovies. If it really is the ducks, overcrowding, too many drakes, protein deficient feed, or boredom might be causative.

 

[Goat_Walker]

It has been posted before that drakes will fight to the death. Have you seen the fights/murders or only found the after math???

 

[foxhomechickens]

There's 12 left now including the older hen. As far as cliques the smaller ones seem to band together. I have not witnessed a death but an attempted murder a few times. Biting at the hind end and drawing blood in a hypered up state of mind. i had to put a few into cages for safetys sake as they either had tear marks or in two cases were dripping blood. i can take some photos tomorrow morning and try to post them. Im not very computer savy.