Pecking Pekins

[Buttercup725]

Hey y’all!

My ducks are a little over two months old now and I’m 99% sure I have one male and one female-based off the voices. Dill has a low raspy quack while Georgie is obnoxiously loud.

I woke up this morning and saw them pecking each other on their bills. It seemed a little aggressive but not to the point where I felt worried. I fell back to sleep and noticed that Georgie’s face was a mess and thought that Dill somehow managed to poop on her face. I went to wash off her face with a soft towel and noticed that it was blood and not poop. I could tell that it was coming from her right nare, which I know are super sensitive. She doesn’t seem to be affected at all and is in good spirits and obnoxiously loud as usual so I’m not too concerned.

What I am concerned about is this possibly being an aggressive behavior that I should keep an eye on. Has anyone experienced this before? If so, what was the experience like?

Dill and Georgie cannot be away from one another and I’d hate for this to be an issue in the long run.

 

[IvysAnimals]

Do you have a picture/video of them? This kind of aggressive behavior is not good, and they may need to be separated. If you do have a male and a female, you'll need to get more females. One drake needs 4-5+ females. Is there a possibility her injury was from a predator or possibly from something in your yard/the enclosure that she could've gotten hurt from?

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hey y’all!

My ducks are a little over two months old now and I’m 99% sure I have one male and one female-based off the voices. Dill has a low raspy quack while Georgie is obnoxiously loud.

I woke up this morning and saw them pecking each other on their bills. It seemed a little aggressive but not to the point where I felt worried. I fell back to sleep and noticed that Georgie’s face was a mess and thought that Dill somehow managed to poop on her face. I went to wash off her face with a soft towel and noticed that it was blood and not poop. I could tell that it was coming from her right nare, which I know are super sensitive. She doesn’t seem to be affected at all and is in good spirits and obnoxiously loud as usual so I’m not too concerned.

What I am concerned about is this possibly being an aggressive behavior that I should keep an eye on. Has anyone experienced this before? If so, what was the experience like?

Dill and Georgie cannot be away from one another and I’d hate for this to be an issue in the long run.

This isn't good, I would consider separating, at least until Georgie has healed- you could use a mesh divide so that they can still see eachother.

How much space do they have? Is this pecking happening around the food and water?
Though they are pretty young still, my thought is perhaps Dill is *starting* to get hormones in, water can be a trigger for mating or aggressive behaviours. I think this due to your prediction that Dill is a drake.

Once re-introduced, just to be safe, I'd give them multiple water and feed stations, one each, and see if that helps at all. I'd also check that they have plenty of space so that Georgie is able to get away. I reccomend considering your plans now, will you be able to get a couple more females? This behaviour could get worse if it's due to hormones coming in. If you're able to. I would start looking for more hens now.


While on the topic. Perhaps you could get a recording of their voices, and we could confirm their sexes for you if you're uncertain?

 

[Ridgeback825]

Our rooster and our drake went after each other right after I expanded their outdoor run. Both were almost a year old and I believe it was due to raging hormones. I think the drake started the scuffle and the roo finished it, despite the roo being half the size of the drake. Lol. We are currently trying to introduce new batches of chicks into our flock with very slow progress. Their hormones make them do foolish things!

 

[Buttercup725]

Hey y’all!

My ducks are a little over two months old now and I’m 99% sure I have one male and one female-based off the voices. Dill has a low raspy quack while Georgie is obnoxiously loud.

I woke up this morning and saw them pecking each other on their bills. It seemed a little aggressive but not to the point where I felt worried. I fell back to sleep and noticed that Georgie’s face was a mess and thought that Dill somehow managed to poop on her face. I went to wash off her face with a soft towel and noticed that it was blood and not poop. I could tell that it was coming from her right nare, which I know are super sensitive. She doesn’t seem to be affected at all and is in good spirits and obnoxiously loud as usual so I’m not too concerned.

What I am concerned about is this possibly being an aggressive behavior that I should keep an eye on. Has anyone experienced this before? If so, what was the experience like?

Dill and Georgie cannot be away from one another and I’d hate for this to be an issue in the long run

Do you have a picture/video of them? This kind of aggressive behavior is not good, and they may need to be separated. If you do have a male and a female, you'll need to get more females. One drake needs 4-5+ females. Is there a possibility her injury was from a predator or possibly from something in your yard/the enclosure that she could've gotten hurt from?

I don’t have any videos or pictures of the injury. It was definitely Dill because they were in my room in their little sleep area and I woke up to them fighting.

 

[Buttercup725]

Our rooster and our drake went after each other right after I expanded their outdoor run. Both were almost a year old and I believe it was due to raging hormones. I think the drake started the scuffle and the roo finished it, despite the roo being half the size of the drake. Lol. We are currently trying to introduce new batches of chicks into our flock with very slow progress. Their hormones make them do foolish things!View attachment 3423664

Poor thing! That’s what Georgie’s bill looked it.

 

[Buttercup725]

This isn't good, I would consider separating, at least until Georgie has healed- you could use a mesh divide so that they can still see eachother.

How much space do they have? Is this pecking happening around the food and water?
Though they are pretty young still, my thought is perhaps Dill is *starting* to get hormones in, water can be a trigger for mating or aggressive behaviours. I think this due to your prediction that Dill is a drake.

Once re-introduced, just to be safe, I'd give them multiple water and feed stations, one each, and see if that helps at all. I'd also check that they have plenty of space so that Georgie is able to get away. I reccomend considering your plans now, will you be able to get a couple more females? This behaviour could get worse if it's due to hormones coming in. If you're able to. I would start looking for more hens now.


While on the topic. Perhaps you could get a recording of their voices, and we could confirm their sexes for you if you're uncertain?

I will definitely get a video of them chattering away and post it!

During the day, they free range in our side and it’s definitely plenty of room for the two of them. At night time, they do have an “enclosure” in my bedroom that the sleep in, but it’s only temporary. We’re still trying to figure out if we should buy a run or build one.

The attack happened when they were in their sleepy time spot and I take out the food and water at night. That enclosure is definitely minimal just due to space in my bedroom.

I’m not sure if we’d be able to get anymore hens I already had to take my third duckling back to the farm I got them at due to aggression. If I took one back to the farm, I could ask her if she sells grown ducks. She definitely has more than enough to share! Lol

 

[ruthhope]

I will definitely get a video of them chattering away and post it!

During the day, they free range in our side and it’s definitely plenty of room for the two of them. At night time, they do have an “enclosure” in my bedroom that the sleep in, but it’s only temporary. We’re still trying to figure out if we should buy a run or build one.

The attack happened when they were in their sleepy time spot and I take out the food and water at night. That enclosure is definitely minimal just due to space in my bedroom.

I’m not sure if we’d be able to get anymore hens I already had to take my third duckling back to the farm I got them at due to aggression. If I took one back to the farm, I could ask her if she sells grown ducks. She definitely has more than enough to share! Lol

Such aggression in 8 week old ducklings is unusual and having two aggressive ducklings is so surprising. Perhaps it is passed on from an aggressve adult through the fertilized eggs.

 

[Buttercup725]

Hey y’all!

My ducks are a little over two months old now and I’m 99% sure I have one male and one female-based off the voices. Dill has a low raspy quack while Georgie is obnoxiously loud.

I woke up this morning and saw them pecking each other on their bills. It seemed a little aggressive but not to the point where I felt worried. I fell back to sleep and noticed that Georgie’s face was a mess and thought that Dill somehow managed to poop on her face. I went to wash off her face with a soft towel and noticed that it was blood and not poop. I could tell that it was coming from her right nare, which I know are super sensitive. She doesn’t seem to be affected at all and is in good spirits and obnoxiously loud as usual so I’m not too concerned.

What I am concerned about is this possibly being an aggressive behavior that I should keep an eye on. Has anyone experienced this before? If so, what was the experience like?

Dill and Georgie cannot be away from one another and I’d hate for this to be an issue in the long run

This isn't good, I would consider separating, at least until Georgie has healed- you could use a mesh divide so that they can still see eachother.

How much space do they have? Is this pecking happening around the food and water?
Though they are pretty young still, my thought is perhaps Dill is *starting* to get hormones in, water can be a trigger for mating or aggressive behaviours. I think this due to your prediction that Dill is a drake.

Once re-introduced, just to be safe, I'd give them multiple water and feed stations, one each, and see if that helps at all. I'd also check that they have plenty of space so that Georgie is able to get away. I reccomend considering your plans now, will you be able to get a couple more females? This behaviour could get worse if it's due to hormones coming in. If you're able to. I would start looking for more hens now.


While on the topic. Perhaps you could get a recording of their voices, and we could confirm their sexes for you if you're uncertain?

Here’s a video of them!

 

[Buttercup725]

Such aggression in 8 week old ducklings is unusual and having two aggressive ducklings is so surprising. Perhaps it is passed on from an aggressve adult through the fertilized eggs.

This wouldn’t surprise me considering I’ve already had to take a duckling from the same hatch due to aggression back to the farm.