Pekin picking on my Mallard... (Warning: Hurt Wing Pic)

[tweetysvoice]

Quackers, one of my two 7 week old Pekins, has all of a sudden decided this morning to start picking on Goose, my 5 week old Mallard. She won't leave her along. Goose will be napping and Quackers runs full blast - head down - at her and grabs a wing and won't let go. Goose now has a bloody flight feather that's just starting to come in. I put some BlueKote on it, but that hasn't helped. She chases her away from the water, from the food, from everything. If goose somewhere - Quackers wants to be in that spot. They've all lived together since they were a couple weeks old and we've never had an issue like this. Goose is just doing her best to run as soon as she see's Quackers coming. Quackers doesn't touch Ducky (the other Pekin) or Daffy (5 week old Cayuga that's bonded with Goose). I've been thinking about creating a small "time out" pen in our run for Quackers - any thoughts?

 

[tweetysvoice]

We set up a time-out pen for the next few days. When I got home today Quackers had chewed off more of Goose's wing. Grrrrr. She went after her while we were out there. She'll grab the wing and drag her around. She's also going after the chickens, but they just fly away before she can get them. Goose just cries a horrible cry when Quackers grabs her.
If she doesn't stop this, we'll have to get rid of her.

Time out pen till Thurs.


The tip is chewed up - feathers and skin. And several of the lower feathers are broken in half and bleeding.



I sprayed bluekote on it. She doesn't seem to be hurting, but how can I tell? The other three are getting along just fine. Goose was always the lowest on the totum pole, so who knows what is going on.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We set up a time-out pen for the next few days. When I got home today Quackers had chewed off more of Goose's wing. Grrrrr. She went after her while we were out there. She'll grab the wing and drag her around. She's also going after the chickens, but they just fly away before she can get them. Goose just cries a horrible cry when Quackers grabs her.
If she doesn't stop this, we'll have to get rid of her.

Time out pen till Thurs.


The tip is chewed up - feathers and skin. And several of the lower feathers are broken in half and bleeding.



I sprayed bluekote on it. She doesn't seem to be hurting, but how can I tell? The other three are getting along just fine. Goose was always the lowest on the totum pole, so who knows what is going on.

I doubt she is in alot of pain, but I think you did the right thing by separating them, are they all girls? maybe dominance issue? Who knows sorry it's going on though.

 

[tweetysvoice]

We know that the two Pekins are girls, but don't know about the Mallard and Cayuga yet. They aren't honking like the Pekins are, but they are a couple weeks difference in age.
Does anyone know if I need to "pull" that feather that was bleeding? It's not actively bleeding right now, so I'm hoping it will be ok. I don't want to scare Goose anymore than she already is. She's going through the freaked out by everything stage as is it...

 

[Miss Lydia]

We know that the two Pekins are girls, but don't know about the Mallard and Cayuga yet. They aren't honking like the Pekins are, but they are a couple weeks difference in age.
Does anyone know if I need to "pull" that feather that was bleeding? It's not actively bleeding right now, so I'm hoping it will be ok. I don't want to scare Goose anymore than she already is. She's going through the freaked out by everything stage as is it...

I'd just leave it alone because it will probably start to bleed if you pull it. Does Quackers get along good with any of the other 3? because if she does you may want to put one in with her just to keep her from getting depressed from being isolated. My girls have spats every once in a while, but not to the point of causing injury. I hope someone will give their opinion about what is causing her to act this way.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Yeah, my biggest fear for putting another one in there is that they will then turn around and fully bond and then gang up on Goose. We'll see how it goes tonight with her out of there. They can still hear each other, just not see each other. Thank you Miss Lydia for trying to help. We are at a loss as well, especially since nothing like this occurred while they were in the brooder inside the house. In fact, they were fine for the first few days outside. This just began yesterday - from what I can tell.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Sad to say, I had to rehome Quackers. After 5 days in solitary, we let her back into the flock and the bulling accelerated. Again, it was only towards the Mallard (Goose). Goose was so timid and afraid of her that she just screamed when Quackers came near her. I put an ad up on craigslist last night and by this morning already had 4 people interested. We chose a family that had laying chickens, raising new chicks, and one lonely mascovy drake. I thought putting her with a lonely male might put her into her place. She'll get all the attention she wants from the new duck and maybe he'll curb her bulling. I shed a tear because I never rehome my pets. They have always passed away from old age in our home. The family was nice enough to send us a photo of her in her new home. I am very thankful for that.

Good news is that not even an hour after she was gone, the ducks were like totally new ducks. They went into the pond again and played for hours. They hadn't done that since the very first day we let them into the run, because Quackers always ran Goose off. Goose is no longer hiding and the three ducks are currently cuddling in the duckhouse for the first time tonight. I think even hearing her in the seculsion pen was stressing them out. I finally have the flock I always wanted.

 

[cskotek]

Thats really good to hear! And maybe quackers needed a man xD

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sad to say, I had to rehome Quackers. After 5 days in solitary, we let her back into the flock and the bulling accelerated. Again, it was only towards the Mallard (Goose). Goose was so timid and afraid of her that she just screamed when Quackers came near her. I put an ad up on craigslist last night and by this morning already had 4 people interested. We chose a family that had laying chickens, raising new chicks, and one lonely mascovy drake. I thought putting her with a lonely male might put her into her place. She'll get all the attention she wants from the new duck and maybe he'll curb her bulling. I shed a tear because I never rehome my pets. They have always passed away from old age in our home. The family was nice enough to send us a photo of her in her new home. I am very thankful for that.

Good news is that not even an hour after she was gone, the ducks were like totally new ducks. They went into the pond again and played for hours. They hadn't done that since the very first day we let them into the run, because Quackers always ran Goose off. Goose is no longer hiding and the three ducks are currently cuddling in the duckhouse for the first time tonight. I think even hearing her in the seculsion pen was stressing them out. I finally have the flock I always wanted.

Great pic, you made the right decision and I'm sure all will be happy for it. sounds like the ducks are already..