My runners turned out to be boys, but muscovies dont know that

[melissa508]

My white runners were 15 weeks old yesterday, their tails both got curls last week..I was really hoping for a pair since they have different parents.

So anyways I have muscovy & 2 blue swedish males- SO i let all the baby ducks in with the adults after the predator problems & now the poor things are being pinned down & mated all day, they are even pinning down my big baby muscovy male..not old enough to hiss..but its def a male.
Why would they be doing this?..the poor runners are so delicate compared to the others & theyre BOYS!! . Cant the adult male ducks tell theyre boys?..The poor runners are taking the worst of it, 3 ducks at once & theyre bills were all bloody yesterday from it. I decided to move the 3 big males into confinement until i can figure out what to do.

 

[MDC]

Sometimes it's a domination issue, sometimes it's a take what you can get, issue. I'm sure we've all seen the countless videos on America's Funniest Videos of rabbits mounting cats or ducks attempting to breed dogs, etc. At some point they're going to do their business out of frustration - their hormones are telling them to mate and procreate and that's what they're going to do even if it is the wrong critter. I had a pig once that had a love affair with a 55 gal. barrel. Que sera, sera.

If the aggressive drakes are adults then you might just have to keep them separate from the juveniles until later this fall when the testosterone starts to fall. They definitely can injure and kill young birds before you have a chance to intervene.

 

[james419]

We have a Malard Drake who tried to serve every duck on the place even if they were larger - one afternoon he tried it with an Aylesbury, she got up and walked off with him hanging on - most entertaining