tayjamieson
Songster
Hello!
So I have a total of 12 pekin ducks, 5 of them are males. One of the males named Angel (named Angel because he unfortunately developed a mild case of angel wing & we did try wrapping but the other ducks always found a way to remove it for him, little stinkers). Angel chases the other ducks around and is really rough, pulls out their neck feathers and pins them down. He does this multiple times a day so I have a few male and female ducks with raw necks. All of the ducks kind of play chase but Angel seems to be the one who gets a little aggressive about it. Yesterday I found chunks of feathers with skin/blood on them so I think it's time I step in and see what I can do to fix this. I notice aggressive behaviors amongst a lot of them when I put them in their coop at night.
Also, one of my sweet small male ducks named Blue also has been "alienated" it seems from the rest of the pack and I think Angel is the one who is keeping him away from everyone. A couple months ago he had a ankle/leg injury, it was super swollen and he had a bad limp so he laid down a lot while the others foraged, but thankfully it seems to finally have healed but he definitely lost a bit of weight from it (epsom salt baths worked so well for treating his injury). Perhaps the time period he was disabled caused the other ducks to alienate him? I'm not sure if that is a thing but it's worth noting. I'm worried that Blue is, or is going to, get depressed since ducks really need companionship. He will lay in the grass alone a short distance from the others and if he goes near the others I see angel chasing him quite a bit.
What should I do? Can I fix Angel's behavior or do I have to re-home him? I'm sad that he has grown into this aggressive behavior. They were all raised together so I hoped they would all get along. I hatched and raised them myself and it was a pretty emotional process so I can't help but have this motherly protective love for them and my boyfriend doesn't seem to understand how I feel about it. He wants to cut down our duck flock because he thinks the issue is too many ducks and too many males, he thinks we should only have 1 male otherwise the aggressive behavior will just be passed on to the next male after one leaves. He prefers chickens because they earn their keep by producing eggs we eat and sell (we don't eat our duck eggs - usually cook them up and feed them once a week as a treat to everyone).
Sorry for the long post - I love hearing from you guys and getting opinions from fellow duck and chicken lovers like myself. Thank You for your time!
So I have a total of 12 pekin ducks, 5 of them are males. One of the males named Angel (named Angel because he unfortunately developed a mild case of angel wing & we did try wrapping but the other ducks always found a way to remove it for him, little stinkers). Angel chases the other ducks around and is really rough, pulls out their neck feathers and pins them down. He does this multiple times a day so I have a few male and female ducks with raw necks. All of the ducks kind of play chase but Angel seems to be the one who gets a little aggressive about it. Yesterday I found chunks of feathers with skin/blood on them so I think it's time I step in and see what I can do to fix this. I notice aggressive behaviors amongst a lot of them when I put them in their coop at night.
Also, one of my sweet small male ducks named Blue also has been "alienated" it seems from the rest of the pack and I think Angel is the one who is keeping him away from everyone. A couple months ago he had a ankle/leg injury, it was super swollen and he had a bad limp so he laid down a lot while the others foraged, but thankfully it seems to finally have healed but he definitely lost a bit of weight from it (epsom salt baths worked so well for treating his injury). Perhaps the time period he was disabled caused the other ducks to alienate him? I'm not sure if that is a thing but it's worth noting. I'm worried that Blue is, or is going to, get depressed since ducks really need companionship. He will lay in the grass alone a short distance from the others and if he goes near the others I see angel chasing him quite a bit.
What should I do? Can I fix Angel's behavior or do I have to re-home him? I'm sad that he has grown into this aggressive behavior. They were all raised together so I hoped they would all get along. I hatched and raised them myself and it was a pretty emotional process so I can't help but have this motherly protective love for them and my boyfriend doesn't seem to understand how I feel about it. He wants to cut down our duck flock because he thinks the issue is too many ducks and too many males, he thinks we should only have 1 male otherwise the aggressive behavior will just be passed on to the next male after one leaves. He prefers chickens because they earn their keep by producing eggs we eat and sell (we don't eat our duck eggs - usually cook them up and feed them once a week as a treat to everyone).
Sorry for the long post - I love hearing from you guys and getting opinions from fellow duck and chicken lovers like myself. Thank You for your time!
