My duck is attacking my Silkie

[gailburt]

Both hens. Muscovy duck that is normally peaceable and even cuddly but since she started molting won't let me get near her. The silkie is the same one that was "sick" the other day. She seemed to have recovered, so I released her from her kennel in the kitchen back to the other chickens. I now suspect she was attacked then as well. I watched them for over an hour after sending her out, just to make sure she really seemed ok, and she did begin to reestablish her spot as the Alpha chicken.

But this morning, I heard a squabble and went to check, and found the duck pinning the chicken down and viciously pulling her feathers out. I rescued the chicken, but she is bleeding in several places. Gave her an Epsom bath and patched her up with triple antibiotic ointment and am keeping her in the kitchen again.

What would cause my duck to suddenly attack this hen? Did I release her back too soon? Should I have kept her back longer? Does the duck sense something wrong with her? We have two ducks and three other chickens that the ducks have no interest in (at least so far).

I'm so new at this, just had all of the poultry since August, so your help is appreciated.

 

[chicklover 1998]

the longer you keep the chicken out the worse the beating will be when you put her back , put the aggressor inside for a couple days and that should help the problem, just found your thread

 

[cafarmgirl]

Sometimes ducks just cannot be kept with chickens just for this reason, especially smaller more docile chickens like Silkies. You might want to consider keeping them housed separately all the time.

 

[gailburt]

We've been keeping the ducks out in the yard all the time while the chickens go into the coop all day. We let them all out together in the morning and again in the evening before they go in for the night. I watch, and have broken the duck out of a stealth attack mode several times. It been nearly two weeks since the first incident, and it does seem that the duck is ratcheting back the ninja mode a little now. I hope she breaks out of her weird mood soon. She used to be like my feathered puppy - very cuddly and affectionate, she would actually leave treats on the ground to come and get skritches. Since she went broody and then started molting, she won't let me near her and had turned into a murderous monster with the chickens.