Really Really Dumb Question

Susanjoans

Chirping
7 Years
Aug 23, 2012
77
0
96
I apologize. I feel very stupid and childish for asking this, in advance.

My male muscovy is starting to try to breed with my female muscovy. He's chasing her around the yard, grabbing the feathers on her back and trying to mount her. He particularly wants to do this when they're in their pool.

Here comes the stupid part. She's running away, seems legitimately scared, and when he gets close to succeeding she makes a very distressing honkchirpscream type noise.

I'm not an idiot: I know they're animals. I've seen rabbits mate (the female screamed bloody murder), and horses and dogs and cats and cows . . . But other than the rabbits, the other females didn't seem as reticent as my duck does. I guess it hurts? Or she doesn't know what's going on with him? As their caretaker, I want to make sure everything is okay with them both . . .

Geez. I feel dumb.

Thanks.
 
For her and for you, separate them.

Drakes range from gentlemanly to - well - vicious. It is impossible, as far as I know, to tell ahead of time. I only have one drake, we just got him, and so far he hasn't been interested in that kind of thing. He is three years old.

So. Worst case, he could kill her. There are some options and I expect you will hear them over the course of the next day or so. One is to get two to four more females. Then he can spread the attention around, if he so chooses. On the down side, there are cases of drakes picking on one duck.

Another option that may not be an option for you depending on how you feel about it, is freezer camp. Along those lines of thinking, an aggressive male animal of any kind does not deserve your energies and all the worries and tragedy that he can bring to your home or homestead.
 
Thank you Amiga!
What is gentlemanly, exactly? What is 'normal' duck mating?
I imagine it's a spectrum . . . so aggressive it results in death all the way to completely docile?
 
Right, Bean (our new drake) has been described as "hop on, hop off, run around," so he just does the deed and departs. He has not been aggressive toward any duck in the flock for over a month now.

On the other hand, someone else I know saw one of her drakes get on top of a duck, grab her by the back of the neck and snap her neck, killing her.

Some drakes just keep at it, causing internal injuries, neck injuries, abraded backs, broken bones.
 

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