My Ducks Confuse Me

[Danielle11]

I have 26 chickens and 2 ducks, I got them all when they were babies and they have always been kept in a coop and run together. Although I am familiar with chickens because I have had them before, this is my first time with ducks and Im not sure what to make of their behavior.

They are both females (apparently) but I dont know what breed they are because they were in a mixed bin when I got them. Im pretty positive that they are both girls because I think they both lay eggs (its hard to know for sure who lays eggs and whi doesnt. Theres a lot of eggs and they all like to share the same couple nesting boxes) and they were both sexed as females. Well I have seen one of them mounting the other one and biting its neck, which I assumed was them forming a "pecking order". I googled it and got many different answers like it "could" be them doing thst or it "could" be one of the ducks is taking on the males role. Okay, I can deal with that. Its not a big deal and it doesnt bother any of the chickens or even the other duck, they can do whatever they please.

Well out of my chickens, I have 2 Rhode Island Reds that are looking really rough. I ruled out moulting, mites/lice and all other possibilities besides bullying except that these two are some of the worse bullies out of the chickens. That confused me but I knew that there are a few other bullies so I just assumed when I wasnt around, they all were fighting each other. Thats how the pecking order goes, right?

Well Im not so sure now because when I was in the garden, I heard the chickens and especially the ducks going crazy. I ran over and saw that both of the ducks were chasing those 2 RIR chickens and ripping their feathers out! Then one duck mounted the chicken and was ripping out its neck feathers while the other duck was ripping feathers off her butt. Then the other chickens started freaking out and some joined in the fight! I was shocked I yelled at them and everyone calmed down but less than 5 minutes later, they grabbed the other RIR chicken and mounted her and attacked. It was really weird because I watched that the ducks started the whole thing.

Why are they doing this? It doesnt seem normal...
I haven't found any answers on google and have been looking through this forum for answers without luck. Everyone on here says its one male duck going after a chicken but I have 2 female ducks gaining up on only 2 chickens out of all 26 of them. What the heck?

 

[azure_]

I'm sorry but I can't help

 

[TheOddOneOut]

If your ducks are male, it sounds like they are trying to mate.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

post videos of them quacking and pictures of them. i can help you with gender and breef

 

[azure_]

Yeah maybe there both male?

 

[Mimi13]

My four female ducks mount each other more than my drake does. Just normal I’ve come to find out.

Also, if you say they’re all laying together, the ducks’ eggs are rather waxy feeling. Maybe you can pick out the different ones.

My ducks chase my chickens out of their pen all the time. I have seen my drake several times trying to grab and mount one of my chickens. A male duck can actually injure a chicken if he tries to mate her. Drakes have external penises and a chicken’s body is not made to accept that.

For whatever reason, the ducks have just chosen those two chickens to pick on.

I would go ahead and separate the ducks from the chickens before something worse happens.

 

[Danielle11]

post videos of them quacking and pictures of them. i can help you with gender and breef

Yeah, that sounds good. I just have to get a good video of them.

 

[Danielle11]

My four female ducks mount each other more than my drake does. Just normal I’ve come to find out.

Also, if you say they’re all laying together, the ducks’ eggs are rather waxy feeling. Maybe you can pick out the different ones.

My ducks chase my chickens out of their pen all the time. I have seen my drake several times trying to grab and mount one of my chickens. A male duck can actually injure a chicken if he tries to mate her. Drakes have external penises and a chicken’s body is not made to accept that.

For whatever reason, the ducks have just chosen those two chickens to pick on.

I would go ahead and separate the ducks from the chickens before something worse happens.

That's good to know about the eggs feeling waxy and Im pretty sure that the ducks are both female. I know for a fact at least one is because there's a big white egg everyday that I know is from the ducks, do ducks alternate days that they lay eggs?

 

[Mimi13]

That's good to know about the eggs feeling waxy and Im pretty sure that the ducks are both female. I know for a fact at least one is because there's a big white egg everyday that I know is from the ducks, do ducks alternate days that they lay eggs?

I guess it would depend on the breed. My white layer has only missed 3 days since beginning to lay on 8/1. But my others haven’t laid every day though.

 

[hayley3]

I had to separate my ducks from my chickens because of the same problem. It's a pain and now I can't go sit in the yard and visit with the duck and chickens at same time. They were also picking on my goose and the drake would not let her use the pool. Now he charges at our legs. I'm hoping he calms down later...but I've never had a mean duck in my life til now.