Other Female nibbling/biting ducklings?

[wheresbigfoot]

Is this a normal behavior? She seems to "stand guard" in front of the duck house with momma and babies inside. When mom and babies come out she nibbles or bites and seems to scare off the ducklings. Not everytime but the activity has increased. The ducklings are 4 days old. Mom is still trying to incubate other eggs while watching the babies. Mom seems to be a good mom so far.

Is this normal, pecking order behavior? Will this turn into more aggressive behavior? Do I need to be concerned? Will she kill them? Why? Do I need to watch for more/different behavior? Is she jealous?

I have taken the aggressive one out and put her in another duck home. They came to me full grown and bonded. I don't know the history on them or where they came from as the old owner literally left them at a feed store.

Mom is *I think* buff orpington and the other is a grey indian runner if this helps at all

 

[wheresbigfoot]

** I don't like keeping them separate as I know ducks are social and they are bonded but I also don't want the ducklings hurt**

 

[chickens really]

Keep them separated till the Ducklings are much bigger...

 

[Krazyquilts]

If possible, can you put up a barrier like hardware cloth or chicken wire where the aggressive one can see the momma and her babies but not touch them?

It's not uncommon for adult ducks to injure or kill another duck's babies so I don't allow unsupervised mingling of different age groups until the babies are closer to full grown size and able to get away. When letting all the ducks run around together, I'll sit nearby with a long stick and if anyone looks like they want to pick on the babies, I put the stick in between the babies and the aggressive adult and gently but firmly push the adult away. I use the same stick to herd my ducks so they already know that the stick means, "move along." It gets to the point where all I have to do is start lifting the stick and the aggressive duck will just move away and sulk.

 

[chickens really]

I free range my Momma Duck and Ducklings with the entire flock....She protects them and integration goes better.. Ducklings without Mommas need separation and free range integration once they are bigger...

 

[wheresbigfoot]

Thank you for the replies! I kept the nibbling one separated while I was not around. I felt terrible for doing so but wanted to make sure those babies have the chance to grow and thrive. Once I finally had free time, I let her back in and sat there to keep an eye on things and behaviors. I have not seen any nibbling/biting. I do notice that the ducklings keep their distance and stay pretty close to mom. I went and bought 4 paint trays to use as "pools" and have placed 4 paper plates of food next to each one. My thought is that everyone can use whichever pool/food without having to be next to one another. It looks like the dust has settled and everything is calm. I hope I am doing the right thing. I try to stay out of the duck coop as much as possible, I want mom to raise them as naturally as possible. Now we're just waiting for the right time to let them out to free range like normal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Pics?

 

[wheresbigfoot]

Yeah I've got a few on my phone that I'll post once I send them to myself

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[wheresbigfoot]

I am so curious to see what their coloring will be! I need to do some research on how duck breeding goes with two different breeds of ducks.