Pekin Drake Questions

[foxchasr]

Hi everyone, just a few questions if anyone can help. I have 2 male Pekins who are the cutest ever. One of them has feathers sprouting on his legs, how come the other doesn't? Also, one of them always comes running up behind me and it's hysterical, but I don't know if he is doing this to be aggressive. I have 7 hens and a rooster, so I know from the rooster what aggression looks like! He's not nearly as bad as the rooster, but when he does it, I play tease with him and rub his neck and sometimes he nips me on my wrists and actually bruises me! I don't want to play with him back if this is aggression and I should just be ignoring him and what he's doing. As I said, I have the chickens and the 2 male ducks. The ducks don't mess with the chickens in any way and they free range all day together. The ducks are about 8 months old. Thanks!

 

[dianaross77]

That's odd about the feather on the leg. As far as the charging up behind you, it could be aggression but more than likely he is treating you like a duck and a subordinate one at that. I got rid of my two pekin drakes for that very reason (acquired as adults). They were constantly grabbing our hands and trying to mate us. I learned a valuable lesson about how not to raise a drake. I have 2 drake ducklings now and as soon as they started billing me hard enough to be uncomfortable I pushed them down, necks stretched out onto the ground and held them until they stopped struggling. The same way they look when they get mated. It doesn't hurt them. I may still be a duck to them but I'm the top drake and they don't mess with me.

 

[sourland]

Don't have a clue about the fathers on the drakes legs. The charging and grabbing is a preliminary to sexual activity. Be careful that he does not start breeding the hens as he can physically injure them.