One duck being bullied by newcomers

[dUcK bOi]

I had 4 Khaki Campbell ducks since hatching one was a girl (peanut) the other three turned out to be drakes. Today I went left peanut at home alone and took the 3 drakes to a farm and traded them out for 3 Golden cascade girls. My brother reported that peanut was in distress for most of the day and when we brought the new ducks home she seemed sad and didn't hang out with the new girls. When they drank water the girls nipped at poor peanut and were keeping their distance when roaming. When I put them to bed tonight they kicked peanut out and bit her multiple times. She is not fighting back to any of this. Will these new ducks continue ganging up on her? Is peanut sad being the only one of her species? How long until they become friends if ever? Is there something I can do to cheer up Peanut or speed up the process of acquainting each other? Should I have Peanut sleep in a separate coop? Please answer at least a few of these questions my daughter started crying last night because we love peanut so much. Thank you for your time.

 

[Leahs Coop]

Hello, and a warm welcome to Backyard Chickens! It's great to have you here with us! I'm sorry I can't be of much help, but hopefully someone will pop in soon!

 

[Roo5]

It’s establishing the pecking order,I would have kept them in a separate cage separate so they could all see and hear each other but not touch,For about week.There is going to be some fights and pecking on best thing you can do is provide extra waters and feeders and an extra kitty pool.Trust me, it isn’t as bad as it looks!
I also would have kept at least one drake, why did you rid of all the three, integration woulda probably went smoother, one on three isn’t a fair fight.

 

[Duckworth]

We added some new girls to our flock a couple of months ago and we had some nippy behavior. We put a large wire dog crate into the run/coop area and had the duck who was getting picked on inside of it with a water bucket and separate feed for a few days while they all got accustomed to each other. We don’t see the kind of pecking order often observed in chickens, but we do see times of adjustment to new coopmates. We let the ducks commingle for a period of supervised swimming each day, then replaced our victim in the dog crate for safety.

For Peanut, consider putting her in a “look—don’t touch” setup for several days, with some supervised time in with the others. If it is feasible, I would actually leave Peanut free and separate the others, but the size of your setup may not make that practical. If you can, watch the way the new ducks interact with her and consider whether any one of them can spend more time with Peanut safely while the others remain in a separated space. It may take a while for all of them to integrate. I don’t find it helpful to allow one duck to get beaten up because I don’t think it sets up a good pattern in my little flock. All of my girls now get along well, though they still divide into two groups if they feel threatened, which being ducks, can be anytime something new happens. They don’t go after each other, but they do have their “friends” when it comes to defense.

 

[dUcK bOi]

Thank you for your help, Peanut is now best friends with the one who used to bully her they spend all their time together, she is also getting along with the other two ducks there has been no pecking I have seen.

 

[DuckyDonna]

what a sweet ending!

 

[Miss Lydia]