My mallards beat up by Pekins!

[DuckNana]

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm DuckNana! I live in North Carolina. I have 7 mallards (4 drakes 3 ducks). I've had them since 5 days old. My ducks are now 9 1/2 weeks old. For the first time I took them down to the lake which is in our neighborhood. I don't live on the lake but my neighbors do and said I could use their property for my ducks. They are fairly tame and are crate trained plus still very young so I felt good about them just taking a swim and coming back. When I opened the crate they slowly came out investigating the new area. Two of them waddled down to the water and flew about 25 feet out landing on the lake then started to swim back. Two Pekins showed up after my two mallards had flow out into the water. When my mallards were swimming back to shore the two Pekins each took a mallard from the front grabbing their necks and pushed their heads under water then they pushed on them until they were totally submerged! My neighbor and I started throwing rocks at them and they finally let my mallards go. They swam as fast as they could back to shore and ran, well waddled, to their crate. Needless to say that ended our lake fun. My question is, did I try this when they were too young? Will the Pekins ever accept them maybe when they are older? I would really like to take them to the lake during the day and bring them home at night until, if ever, they feel comfortable just staying on the lake as their home. I inherited these ducks from some very irresponsible friends ordering ducklings online then not wanting them. I do not know much about ducks but I'm learning.

One more question. When do they do their first molt? Right now they are losing quite a few feathers. I take very good care of them. They are beautiful! They get chopped veggies and fruit each morning plus twice per week they get 60 minnow to chase and eat in their kiddy pool. Also, they have crumble duck food available to them all day. They sleep in my basement bathroom at night.

Thanks with any info anyone can give me on my questions! DuckNana

 

[lovesduckies]

First off, you might want to get more girls for your boys. Drakes are really aggressive when they mate and can kill the females. A good ratio is 3 hens to one drake. Second, introducing new ducks can be difficult. They are kind of territorial and need to be introduced to each other slowly. When i tried to take 3 girls out to my drake about a year ago he totally flipped out and attacked me, my dad, and my mom and he's not ever aggressive with me, he's like mommy's little baby. The pekins attacked the mallards because they were in their territory. I am dealing with this right now too actually. My mallards are not happy that i brought pekins into their home and they are protecting their territory. Good luck

 

[DuckNana]

Thanks for the reply! Three ducks per drake! OK, well I just might try and do that. I think I'm going to take my mallards to the lake each day for an hour or two so they can get used to it. Hopefully if the Pekins keep showing up, which I'm sure they will, eventually they will leave my babies alone. Would they have actually killed them if we had not been there???

 

[sourland]

It is very unlikely that the pekins will leave your ducks alone. They are most likely frustrated drakes looking for something to breed. Hormone crazed drakes have only one thing on their minds, and yes, it is possible that they might drown your mallards inadvertantly while trying to breed them.

 

[NYRIR]

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I would wait a while longer until your ducks are bigger and mating season has slowed down.I would worry about the Pekins....