Rabid Duck????

[Wifezilla]

Beneath that cute exterior are ruthless omnivores that want to spread their genes.

Exactly. And they got to this point over millions of years of making sure they were able to feed and reproduce. Those instincts are still strong despite domestication.

One of the many reasons I got ducks instead of chickens is that chicken beaks are VERY POINTY and I would rather deal with a ticked off duck than a ticked off chicken. Plus, THIS is a chicken ancestor....

"An adolescent female Tyrannosaurus rex died 68 million years ago, but its bones still contain intact soft tissue, including the oldest preserved proteins ever found, scientists say.

And a comparison of the protein's chemical structure to a slew of other species showed an evolutionary link between T. rex and chickens, bolstering the idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs. "
http://www.livescience.com/animals/070412_dino_tissues.html

If you keep the dinosaur connection in mind, it puts their behavior in perspective. I don't love them any less for their lineage. I just appreciate them more and am much more understanding when they rip some other living creature apart and eat it.​

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Interesting article. I had a very terrifying experience as a small child with a neighboring farm's rooster. The guy just wouldn't give up. Chased me all around the barn. Nightmare material.

On the other hand, the claws on a muscovy will shred your unprotected hands and arms to pieces.

 

[Wifezilla]

And now you know why I have Welsh Harlequins and not Muscovies

 

[taraann81]

My drake Virgil had always been great with the ducklings. This year I came out to the barn three mornings in a row to dead ducklings. If I didn't know better I would have guessed mink(but all my other birds were fine so I knew that wasn't it) because each dead duckling had puncture marks on either side of their skulls and their heads appeared partly squashed.

I caught him in the act the next day he picked a duckling up by the head chomped hard and appeared to be trying to swallow the duckling head first. It was very jurassic park like, he "looked" just like a dinosaur they way he did it. I was disgusted and sort of impressed at the same time.

 

[TrystInn]

This probably explains the 'thing' I found in the watering bins yesterday. About all that was left were skeletal 'feet', so I can't even say if it was a bird or a rodent because most of it were missing.

*gulp* Now I find out it could have been my sweet, ornery little duckies! *shudder*

I'd been blaming our barn cat, Libby!

 

[Wifezilla]

I was disgusted and sort of impressed at the same time.

I can understand that!​

 

[duckmanor]

OK - so I have one Muscovy Female with one male Rouen and Female Rouen, and a Pekin. I have seen both males mate with the Muscovy and the Rouen but it seems now the Pekin has it out for the Moscovy. It looks as though he is trying to drown my poor Muscovy he grabs her by the neck feathers and pushes her head in the pool in the beginning when he would do this he would mate with her but now it seems as though he is just doing it to drown her is this possible?

I feel as though they pick on her because she is a different breed- I have a table that I have put in the pen for her to roost on and get away from them she seems to stay up there alot but when she wants to go and swim the darn Pekin won't leave her alone what is this all about and what can I do about it?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Sometimes they do just pick on one girl, and she can be in danger. Ducks do have incredible lungs but at some point they can be drowned. I would take out the pekin if you want your muscovy to be safe. Also having two males and not enough females for them can get them more worked up than they would be otherwise.

 

[Goldendoodles]

This thread explains why my whole flock of ducks will run/fly/waddle across the yard after a squirrel, while my chickens run the other way. And I thought they were just curious.

I have seen them catch and eat snakes about 8 inches long. There's usually a fiasco over one of those.

 

[deanna&rich]

Fluffy little Tyrannasauruses !!! (tyrannasaurii ??)

O god, I love it, even if I can't spell it ....