Overly Amorous Drake? Help!

[jreynolds]

I have 1 Peking drake (Ping), who has 3 female ducks with him (1 Peking, 1 Rouan, and 1 Indian Runner). I just got them this spring, and Ping has just recently (within the past week), started trying to mount the ladies (all 3). Up until today, everything has seemed to be ok, Quackers (Peking), and Josie (Rouan) follow Ping around like he's the king, and Twiggy (IR) mostly does her own thing. This morning though, I went out to check on everyone (They free range in a large fenced in area with my chickens), and Twiggy the IR had feathers missing and blood on her back/wing. I cleaned her up as best as I could, applied triple antibiotic, and used a gauze strip to wrap her wing/back area. I also cobbled together a "bachelor" pen, into which I put Ping.
So I guess my questions are: is there anything else I can/should do for Twiggy? She's acting normal, but I don't want to miss something that would help her.
Could something else have caused Twiggy's injuries? (I know we have a couple of small kittens that live in the barn next door, and I have caught them in the chicken yard, but they are still very little)
Is this normal mating behavior for a young male Peking? (and will he grow out of it/calm down?)

 

[jreynolds]

Any tips anyone?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Sadly ducky love isn't gentle, and some drakes are just extra rough.

 

[Marwan]

yh i agree its rather brutal unfortunatley and like it was said some drakes are worst than others. apart from not letting them breed i dont think theres much choice. :S

 

[Amiga]

Having runners and buffs myself, I would not want a Pekin drake in with them...Pekins are, I feel, way too large to be on top of runners, and since drakes can get really aggressive anyway, I would anticipate the worst. That's just how I think. I am very protective of my ducks.

There is a question in my mind that I will share with you, asking you to please bear with me because it seems like kind of a cold question.

Are you willing to risk your IR girl getting killed? Her injuries sound to me like they are from the drake. If left alone, he could drown her or break her neck.

I just don't want to downplay the risk and then read later of a tragedy.

 

[jreynolds]

Thanks for your insight Amiga, that's why I had initially cobbled together a bachelor pen for my drake. I am most definitely not willing to allow him to continue to beat up on my IR.
For now, we have removed him completely from the chicken/duck yard, so he is outside of their fence. (The little bachelor pen was too flimsy for an extended period of time)
I think this will be ok, as he is big enough that my dogs don't mess with him.
So long as he doesn't tear things up or demolish the garden we will probably keep him, but we also know a couple of people who have larger flocks of ducks, and one of them might be willing to take in another drake if necessary.

Thank you all for your input! Hopefully we will be able to have an outcome that is good for all involved - birds and humans.

 

[ChickInDelight]

While I respect what Amiga says, my Indian drakes seem worse than my Pekin fellas. I have 2 Pekin girls with feathers missing on their necks, but my one little Indian Runner has nearly had her eyes pecked out. Fauna has been locked up for 2 weeks. When I finally let her out, she was 'loved' almost to death once again. Her thin, little neck and small body size seem to make her both desirable and fragile.

My drakes have always seemed to go for the smallest girls - even the mallards.

My latest plan has been to WAY over-order girls. If my new numbers, yet again, do not stop the destruction to my girls, I am afraid that some of my drakes may find their way to the dining room table.

I am about to build a new pen - I was thinking for Fauna. Now, I am thinking perhaps I will lock up my 3 'x-tra' Indian Runners and let Fauna run free with her love, Reginald.

No worries. Trial and error seems the way both for fowl and well-meaning humans.

 

[jreynolds]

Well, it looks like we might need to re-home our drake...I really thought that the dogs would leave him alone. The completely ignored him all evening yesterday and all last night, but then I was awoken just before 7am by the sounds of our little dog (a pug/terrier mix), fighting with him.
The drake seems to be ok, but he's lost most of his feathers on his back, so we'll see if he makes it. He's back in the cobbled together bachelor pen for now.
He's a nice duck, except for the roughness with my IR...and I'm thinking that may be mostly because she's so much smaller than him. He hasn't hurt my peking or rouen females at all.
Grrr...this is just frustrating.

 

[Amiga]

It is tough. When you care about all the animals involved, it is an awful choice to make. We almost had to rehome a cat a few years ago, since she was causing conflict. Happily, we were able to work with her and get her to settle down most of the time.

 

[ducky219502]

i have 5 ,1 week old ducklings, a black swedish, a rouen, a rouen mix, and 2 pekins. i hope i get mostly girls! i hope mine dont do that! we already have to rehome a rooster because we got to and both dont fight eacother but we do have a big white hen that they have beaten up and they keep getting a hold of her neck feathers and sometimes her comb! we are keeping one rooster but the other one has to go! they dont do it in the coop though, but when we let them out to free range we have to watch them and end up throwing a shoe at them! i hope if we have any drakes they wont do that!