please help my ducks are being aggressive

[olivetree]

so my three ducks are being assholes to my chickens. they keep plucking their feathers out! this morning i went out there and one of the chickens was in the duck area. they have a way to get back up but she is about to have eggs and doesn’t like to move much. but i went to check on her and she had half of her feathers plucked out!! she is bleeding and i don’t know what to do for her. i was thinking of putting aquaphor on her but i didn’t know if i could do that. if not what else should i do to help her heal? i will also block off the chicken and duck area so they can stay away from each other. but the ducks even do it when they are in the run outside! it’s a big area so there is plenty of room. does anyone have any experience with this? how can i get my ducks to stop? two drakes and one female. it’s mostly the two drakes. she just nips at them if they come close to her

 

[Miss Lydia]

What is aquaphor? You have any Veterycin spray that good for wounds? Her feathers will grow back but your going to have to keep her from the rest especially the chickens they are drawn to blood and will begin eating her. Keep them separated from your chicken permanently hormones are high now and causes everyone to bad behavior.

 

[sourland]

Two drakes is one drake too many. It is very likely that the drakes are trying to breed the chicken hens which is an accident waiting to happen. Drakes have penises - roosters do not. Drakes breeding chicken hens can injure/kill them. For the safety of your chicken hens, it is essential to keep them separate from the drakes.

 

[olivetree]

What is aquaphor? You have any Veterycin spray that good for wounds? Her feathers will grow back but your going to have to keep her from the rest especially the chickens they are drawn to blood and will begin eating her. Keep them separated from your chicken permanently hormones are high now and causes everyone to bad behavior.

aquaphor is a baby cream used to heal wounds. is usually used on baby’s butts to prevent rash and dry skin. but it’s heals the skin very fast. okay i will keep her separated for awhile. do you think the drakes will get better at not picking at them? will they just grow out of that?

 

[olivetree]

Two drakes is one drake too many. It is very likely that the drakes are trying to breed the chicken hens which is an accident waiting to happen. Drakes have penises - roosters do not. Drakes breeding chicken hens can injure/kill them. For the safety of your chicken hens, it is essential to keep them separate from the drakes.

will they grow out of that? do i need to keep the separated forever? or just while they are hormonal??

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe by fall! Just really depends on the drakes getting more female ducks will help drakes need at least min of 3 females each. I have drakes and females in with my chickens and only my Muscovy is a butt and thats only if a hen get too close to his space then he’ll grab feathers. You really need more female ducks so they don’t over mate you one female and leave your chickens alone

 

[Eggscaping]

will they grow out of that? do i need to keep the separated forever? or just while they are hormonal??

You can NOT keep drakes with hens! To put it plainly, male ducks are, given the chance, rapists. Sometimes they'll even drown a female duck by mating with her in the water and not letting her up until she breathes. As stated above, the penis of a duck can and will injure a hen, because hens aren't made for a duck to mate with.
Separate the drakes from your hens. Do not let them back together. And honestly, for your female duck I'd get rid of one of them. Two males to a female is bad news for the female. No, they won't grow out of it...it's what they do.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’m sorry but I have never had a drake rape a chicken hen and they have always lived together. They free range during the day. We can’t lump all drakes together. Yes it’s defiantly important to have many female ducks for each drake but chickens and ducks/ drake can live together. I believe
@Isaac 0 is another that has it working for him. If you can’t get more female ducks I’d def rehome 2 and bring home 2 females to take their place.

 

[Isaac 0]

You can NOT keep drakes with hens! To put it plainly, male ducks are, given the chance, rapists. Sometimes they'll even drown a female duck by mating with her in the water and not letting her up until she breathes. As stated above, the penis of a duck can and will injure a hen, because hens aren't made for a duck to mate with.
Separate the drakes from your hens. Do not let them back together. And honestly, for your female duck I'd get rid of one of them. Two males to a female is bad news for the female. No, they won't grow out of it...it's what they do.

Yes, you can, but there are a few things that need to be addressed first, drakes are going to mate with your hens if you have an insufficient ratio, I like to have at least five females per drake, the more the better. Space may also be an issue, birds that are kept in close quarters are often bored, and result in mating/pecking/biting for entertainment.

I've never had a drake even attempt to mate with one of my hens, most likely because they have plenty of ducks that are more their "type".

Never had a drake drown a hen, I would suspect that would most likely happen because you either have too many drakes, or a large breed drake housed with a smaller breed.



To the OP, I would suggest either rehoming the drakes, separating them from your hens, or adding more females to your flock, your choice, but in the meantime, they should be separated to prevent further damage to the hens.

 

[pekincochin12]

You can NOT keep drakes with hens! To put it plainly, male ducks are, given the chance, rapists. Sometimes they'll even drown a female duck by mating with her in the water and not letting her up until she breathes. As stated above, the penis of a duck can and will injure a hen, because hens aren't made for a duck to mate with.
Separate the drakes from your hens. Do not let them back together. And honestly, for your female duck I'd get rid of one of them. Two males to a female is bad news for the female. No, they won't grow out of it...it's what they do.

Like others have said, actually, you can. My drakes are scared of my chicken. She rules the coop, and they know it.