My Ducks Killed My Chicken

[Dbl T in CO]

Last year we adopted a 4 year old Indian Runner drake named Sonny. He loved hanging out with our hens so we thought we’d get him a girlfriend.

We rescued a Muscovy that initially we thought was a hen but who turned out to be a drake.

At first the Muscovy was great to have around. But as he got well he turned out to be the nastiest creature to have around becoming very aggressive towards our chickens and our daughter. He’s even “attacked” me and my husband.

His nastiness has rubbed off of our Indian Runner so now we have 2 hostile birds that take it out of the chickens pinning them down.

Saturday I let the birds out to free range, which is normal. We left to run a few errands. When we came back a short while later the ducks were coming out of the chicken coop (which is a first). We opened up the coop and found one of our hens literally beaten to death by these two ducks.

I have put the ducks in their pen permanently. We plan on butchering the Muscovy and will see if the Indian Runner comes around. If not, his fate will be the same.

Has anyone else ever had something like this happen? This has been very traumatic for us because we adore our chickens and would never intentionally put them in harms way.

We would love to hear from someone who knows more about ducks than we do.

 

[DuckLady]

It is spring and drakes want to mate.

They are not deliberately being nasty, they are following the age old inbred instinct to mate.

I would either keep them penned apart permanently (in which case the scovy will likely start mating the runner and possibly hurting him) or rehome one of them and bring in 3 or 4 females of similar breed (scovies for the scovy and any ducks for the runner).

 

[Southerngirl]

Quote:
Drakes when they mate a duck hen are very aggressive and attempt to hold the hens head down. I agree with the moderator in keeping them separated from your chickens. They show no mercy !!!

 

[Dbl T in CO]

I appreciate your comments.

The mating comment makes sense but this started long before spring and goes back to November.

The Muscovy hisses and chases after people so no one wants him because he is so aggressive.

 

[Wifezilla]

Their are so many nice ducks in the world that there is no reason to put up with a mean drake. I think it is time for freezer camp for the muscovy.

 

[Camelot Farms]

This may seem like a dumb question...and probably is...but can a chicken and a duck mate and get a fertile egg?

 

[greyhorsewoman]

but can a chicken and a duck mate and get a fertile egg?

No​

 

[GrannySue]

One of my runner drakes goes after the chickens all the time. He's got 5 hen ducks but still mates with the chickens. Both my Australorps have bald spots - one just round the head and the other all down her neck and across the shoulder.
I've trained my little dog to go after the drake when he pins a chicken down. She leaves him alone if he's at it with the ducks.
Somewhere there's a video of this. Very funny!

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

I'm really sorry about your hen. I agree that if you choose to keep one or both they need at least 3 duck hens each. I had a khaki who liked blondes...he mated with my BO chickens as well as his wifey. They have a very strong drive...seems like all year.

 

[jandmeg07]

Our Rouen Donald was being VERY aggressive with our Red Sex Link Dixie (RIP) and we could not get him to leave her alone even though he had a Pekin partner, Daisy. He was always trying to mate with Dixie, but he didn't seem to understand that he was hurting her. He would pull at the feathers on her neck and climb on her, like ducks do. We got him two more pekins when we got our chicks and they joined he and Daisy as soon as they were big enough. Then, we rescued two more Pekin girls from a gal that didn't have the first clue about raising ducks and just thought they were cute at the feed store. (She actually thought she'd be able to housetrain them like she'd seen on TV, but no such luck.) So she was going to release the poor girls to the wild. They joined our little flock and now they are all so happy. Donald hasn't bothered any of the new chickens, not once and his girls follow him everywhere. Now I think he's got more women than he bargained for! If you can't get the boys some females, maybe find someone who has females that can take them.