Naked butt!

[Makennapatt26]

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I live in Quakertown PA, and the weather has been starting to get A LOT cooler here! The reason I’m on here is because my sweetheart Male Pekin, has been having a lot of feather loss around his tail! His tail feathers are still there for the most part, but he has an almost bare bum and it looks so so sore. I have 4 ducks, 2 of which are male (pekin and khaki) and two female that are the same breed! I had 3, but rescued the female pekin because our boys were fighting. They were perfect fine for the whole summer after we added out perfect pekin female (Bonnie) but now out of the blue, they are starting to fight again! It’s mostly coming from our Khaki male, (Barnabee) he just can’t get enough of our male pekin (Quacky Chan, Quacky for short). Is the tail loss because of the fighting? I’ve been separating them 24/7 for the past three days and alternating the girls so each male gets time with them, and the tail feathers seems to be growing back, but only a little bit. When the boys are looking at each other through our divider, the girls only pull at Barnabees feathers, and never Quackys. Are they too mad at Barnabee? He’s been a little rough with the girls in the past but Quacky usually sticks up for them and puts him in his place. I’ve checked for mites and can’t find anything, and i thoroughly clean the coop every single day, and they have access to a pool during the day which i clean out 4x a week. Quacky is also on an Antibiotic for bumble foot, so i don’t think it’s an infection. Am i going to have to get rid of Barnabee? Please any input helps. I will attach pictures of Quackys bum & one picture of the back of his neck where feathers are growing in also. Thanks!

 

[Isaac 0]

Judging from the location of the bare spots, and your current ratio of males to females, I would say the most probable reason for the feather loss is due to the other male pulling the feathers off him. The two spots males tend to pluck feathers off of other males are usually around the vent, and neck area, the most likely time for this kind of behavior to happen is when the male is mating a female.

That said, your best bet, stopping this feather loss from going on more, would be to either separate one of the males, or rehome one of the males. So you have a trio.

 

[Makennapatt26]

Judging from the location of the bare spots, and your current ratio of males to females, I would say the most probable reason for the feather loss is due to the other male pulling the feathers off him. The two spots males tend to pluck feathers off of other males are usually around the vent, and neck area, the most likely time for this kind of behavior to happen is when the male is mating a female.

That said, your best bet, stopping this feather loss from going on more, would be to either separate one of the males, or rehome one of the males. So you have a trio.

Thank you so much for your help! I also have 6 ducklings that i intend to add to my flock and fingers crossed they’re all girls. Would the addition of more girls keep them from fighting?

 

[Isaac 0]

Thank you so much for your help! I also have 6 ducklings that i intend to add to my flock and fingers crossed they’re all girls. Would the addition of more girls keep them from fighting?

It should help, but there is always a chance it might not. Looking at the pictures you posted, it doesn't look too bad, so as long as the males aren't attacking each other too much, you could probably leave them with each other until you integrate the rest of the females.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Thank you so much for your help! I also have 6 ducklings that i intend to add to my flock and fingers crossed they’re all girls. Would the addition of more girls keep them from fighting?

the first spring of mating the boys are always the worst but they do get better

 

[Makennapatt26]

the first spring of mating the boys are always the worst but they do get better

Thank you! That’s what I’m hoping for

 

[Makennapatt26]

It should help, but there is always a chance it might not. Looking at the pictures you posted, it doesn't look too bad, so as long as the males aren't attacking each other too much, you could probably leave them with each other until you integrate the rest of the females.

Thank you so much!!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Thank you! That’s what I’m hoping for

im able to have my 3 drake and 2 hens together sometimes, the older boys are almost 2