One duckling pecking at every other duckling 🤷🏻‍♀️

[LouiseCE]

Hello,

I'm hoping you can all help, we have six ducklings three Miniature Silver Appleyards, one Rouen, one we think Swedish Blue and we think a Swedish Black. They're four and half weeks old and all of a sudden one of the Appleyards has started pecking at every other duck in the paddling pool.

We've separated it off and given it it's own pool for the time being but has this happened to anyone else? I've read threads of them all picking on one duck or it happening when their much older but in my panic reading I couldn't see anything.

Thanks in advance,
Louise

 

[3bird]

Welcome to BYC!

I'd like to know more about what the behavior looks like. Is the duck actually grabbing the other ducks or just kind of posturing and nipping. Our Appleyards had to work out their pecking order, and separating a duck can make it that much harder to integrate it back into the flock later if there isn't a serious safety issue going on. Could you take a video for us?

 

[Duckmom27]

Hard to say without seeing exactly what the behavior looks like, but I have 4 ducklings, 7 weeks old now, and the smallest one went through a phase for about 3-4 days a couple weeks ago where she'd nip at the other ducklings to get them to move out of her way. The bigger ones all just kind of walk into whoever's in the way and kind of shove their way through, but her being the smallest, couldn't really shove anyone out of the way so she'd give them a nip. Now she's stopped nipping and they just move out of her way when she pushes on them.

 

[LouiseCE]

Hello, thanks for the responses. She's doing it again today and it is more like nipping, it's not particularly aggressive but it's been causing a lot of quacks!

to

 

[Miss Lydia]

Pushy little thing isn’t it. It’s like it doesn’t want anyone In it’s space.