My male Pekin turned evil. HELP!

[RainForestBird]

I have 5 Ancona drakes and they have never been mean to me. I also have Australian Spotteds and the males are very "randy" but they will allow me to herd them and their girls into their house. Maybe its the breed. I still feed my ducks, both male and female by hand. What does make me angry is when 2 males will gang up and try to mate with a female at the same time, not a pretty sight. I put them on time out - in the house with the door locked for the rest of the day while the females have access to the wading pool and the feed right in front of them but they can't get out! Sweet revenge.

Hey Guys, I need some help...

I have 2 ducks - a male Pekin and female Khaki Campbell duck, both 4 months old and I've had them since they were 1 week old. The male Pekin, Sunny, used to be the most lovable guy ever. He would come up and give hugs and kisses and he loved to be pet and held.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw him mating with the female Khaki Campbell. Ever since then, he has been straight up MEAN and vicious. It's to the point to where no one can even go outside. He chases and bites, hard. I've looked up suggestions online and all I've seen is to try to take control back by either picking him up, or sitting on him until he calms down. Well, he almost never calms down and he is not getting any better. I really don't want to re home them because he used to be such a sweetheart.

Will I ever get my nice duck back? What can I do?

 

[Miss Lydia]

It is very important Drake’s have multiple females when Opie came of age so to speak we went and got him 3 females of his very own. We have had to put a few roosters away because of aggression but I have to say I have been blessed with good roos too I have game and game bantam and all 3 of my boys are well behaved.

 

[RainForestBird]

My drakes do have multiple females, however they seem to have the hots for one little hen in particular and she is the most mature duck being 2 years old. The others were hatched in July of 2017. The older female was my first duck that I got from a farmer when she and her sister were attacked by a weasel and he wanted to give her to a safe home. Her sister was far more flighty than little Biscuit and would not go in one night no matter how hard I tried. She disappeared after a couple of days and I realized a raccoon had eaten her when I found a pile of her feathers in the woods behind the duck house. Little Biscuit was beside herself with grief over her sister, so I got a flock (6) of spotteds as ducklings from a local breeder to keep her company. It took about six months until the ducklings were mature and Biscuit would hang out with them, until then, she preferred to hang out with my Ancona ducks because she was more used to them, even though the male Ancona would regularly mate with her and flatten her to the ground. I felt so bad for her, but she refused to be separated from the Anconas. When the spotteds matured she found one drake in particular that she liked and they have been "married" ever since, though the male will wander off with other females from time to time, he watches out for her especially when she is sitting on eggs or laying. I feel so bad when the other ducks have their way with her and he can do little but look on and wait. He will try to fight the Anconas off, successfully it seems unless the pair get separated and then he's very upset. I wish I could have a duckling from the two but my eggs have been in demand since the ducks started laying and if I allow her to sit on eggs that means I'm without her contribution to the pot. I would love to get more ducklings from the breeder so I can have lots of eggs and not have to worry as much about one hen going out on maternity leave! My egg sales help pay for the feed for my many chickens and ducks. I just thinned my flock, but it still takes a considerable amount of money to pay for high quality feed where I am. I wish they could exist on forage alone because I have lovely water bugs and crickets on my property along with plenty of tall grass and weeds but they don't seem interested the greenery for some reason. Which means they are good for your garden because they eat bugs and not plants! Any suggestions on a good breed for weeds? I tried Cayugas but they only laid one egg and then stopped after I acquired them from a farmer, they ate a lot and pooped a great deal!

It is very important Drake’s havemultiple females when Opie came of age so to speak we went and got him 3 females of his very own. We have had to put a few roosters away because of aggression but I have to say I have been blessed with good roos too I have game and game bantam and all 3 of my boys are well behaved.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Runners are great for bugs not sure what breed is good for weeds

 

[CrystaBub]

@Mcummings2 i feel your pain. I went through something similar with my male Pekin. It took maybe a month of squatting over him, holding him down while gently holding his bill closed then whispering ‘I’m top of the pecking order’ - and I did this multiple times a day and would hold him down until he stopped wiggling. Then I would kiss him sweetly and let him go. Now he is my sweet boy and will even sit on my lap and fall asleep. Consistency was the key for us. Every time he got aggressive I would do this. Maybe worth a try before freezer camp. I also added 2 more females and he really appreciated it!

 

[Knighstar679]

My drakes do have multiple females, however they seem to have the hots for one little hen in particular and she is the most mature duck being 2 years old. The others were hatched in July of 2017. The older female was my first duck that I got from a farmer when she and her sister were attacked by a weasel and he wanted to give her to a safe home. Her sister was far more flighty than little Biscuit and would not go in one night no matter how hard I tried. She disappeared after a couple of days and I realized a raccoon had eaten her when I found a pile of her feathers in the woods behind the duck house. Little Biscuit was beside herself with grief over her sister, so I got a flock (6) of spotteds as ducklings from a local breeder to keep her company. It took about six months until the ducklings were mature and Biscuit would hang out with them, until then, she preferred to hang out with my Ancona ducks because she was more used to them, even though the male Ancona would regularly mate with her and flatten her to the ground. I felt so bad for her, but she refused to be separated from the Anconas. When the spotteds matured she found one drake in particular that she liked and they have been "married" ever since, though the male will wander off with other females from time to time, he watches out for her especially when she is sitting on eggs or laying. I feel so bad when the other ducks have their way with her and he can do little but look on and wait. He will try to fight the Anconas off, successfully it seems unless the pair get separated and then he's very upset. I wish I could have a duckling from the two but my eggs have been in demand since the ducks started laying and if I allow her to sit on eggs that means I'm without her contribution to the pot. I would love to get more ducklings from the breeder so I can have lots of eggs and not have to worry as much about one hen going out on maternity leave! My egg sales help pay for the feed for my many chickens and ducks. I just thinned my flock, but it still takes a considerable amount of money to pay for high quality feed where I am. I wish they could exist on forage alone because I have lovely water bugs and crickets on my property along with plenty of tall grass and weeds but they don't seem interested the greenery for some reason. Which means they are good for your garden because they eat bugs and not plants! Any suggestions on a good breed for weeds? I tried Cayugas but they only laid one egg and then stopped after I acquired them from a farmer, they ate a lot and pooped a great deal!

I found my Welsh seem to like weeds. They have started on them in their little pen and work a bit each day. I also have to say I have enjoyed their personalities.

 

[Runner duck mom]

My drake was such a sweet boy until hormones kicked in. He would wait until i wasn't looking sneak up behind me and bite whatever he could reach or try and chase me out of the run. I found a lot of great info on this site...had to stop hand feeding him for a while and hold him down a few times and just put him in his place. After a while it was easy to read the behavior to know when he was getting ready to come after me.
I always thought it was funny that none of the girls seemed to care if I was restraining him, they would just watch him for a sec and go right back to what they were doing
He still has his days and I keep a close eye on him but mostly he is a good duck, happy to spend his time watching over his girls.
I hope you are able to work things out with your drake, best of luck.

 

[CrystaBub]

@RainForestBird My 4 ducks all eat both weeds (dandelion mostly) and bugs, but my Runner/Ancona hunt more for the worms/bugs whereas my Pekins tend to hunt for the dandelions/weeds. When I put treats out, the Runner/Ancona go for the meal worms and my Pekins go for the peas. I just find that fascinating... But I don't know if that's a bird preference thing or a breed thing.

 

[RainForestBird]

I think its a breed specific thing because my Anconas are lazy and egg all the pellet feed and my Australian Spotted eat bugs and whatever they can find in the mud. They walk right past the feeder the pellets.

@RainForestBird My 4 ducks all eat both weeds (dandelion mostly) and bugs, but my Runner/Ancona hunt more for the worms/bugs whereas my Pekins tend to hunt for the dandelions/weeds. When I put treats out, the Runner/Ancona go for the meal worms and my Pekins go for the peas. I just find that fascinating... But I don't know if that's a bird preference thing or a breed thing.

 

[llombardo]

So what age are you guys saying the hormones kick in? I think as my male khaki gets older he is getting sweeter. He is 6 months and in the last week I've noticed a difference in him. He has never been bad or mean, but he seems to trust me more the older he gets. I think he has the potential to be nicer then the girls