Rescued Duckling... newbie

[Miss Lydia]

Don't let him bite you keep your hands away from his bill. And if he starts to get rally rough with you then your going to have to let him know it isn't acceptable behavior. You can try time out first putting him where he is by himself and can't get to you or Speedy, or flatten him on his belly with one hand behind his neck and the other down where tail and body meet or straddle him but you want to show him you are dominant drake not him. If you decide to flatten him then make him stay flat until he stops squirming and if he starts again once you let him up just keep flattening him out till he gets the message. Doing this is just like another drake would do him to show him who is boss. It isn't being mean or abusive at all but if we don't teach our drakes to behave around us then we will always be bitten and bruised.

I hope your traps get them mice and rats.

 

[Raenh]

I remembered you saying something like that before in another post. Thats what I've been doing to calm him down. And its not my hands he bites, its my upper arms until i can get him positioned right. I chase him a lil to the couch and he hops up on it to go to a cat tree and i catch him and bend over holding with both arms wrapped around him. He pecks, but when i jerk away from him and tap his bill sharply, he starts doing it gentler. He does the biting/pecking a lot when he's scared, so when he comes down from mad, he gets scared because realizes we're on the couch and they're still convinced somethings in it. So, then i gotta calm him from that by acting like mama duck and letting him tuck in.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You have spoiled him rotten. lol

My Opie was such a precious duckling then hit puberty and boy he was like night and day one minute he'd sit beside me so quite next if I got up to walk away he'd jump on my back or try and climb up my leg and biting wow. So when I came on here and asked what to do some even said to cull him that I would never be able to break him from this behavior. Well I decided to work on the behavior because I love my boy raised him from a hatchling so the work began and it's not an over night success but He turned out to be a wonderful drake Once in a while he'll still get a little crazy with me but all I have to do is hold him down for a few min and he is his old self again. He will be 7yrs old in June of this year. I am so glad I worked on him instead of giving up and killing him.

 

[Raenh]

I am too, because you know exactly what to do to break him of it. And yes, i have completely spoiled both of them. Though right now he's rather uh ticked off at me and speedy. Speedy has apparently had enough of him jumping on her back and digging claws into her wings because she now stays on the new loft that he cant get to yet and he's on ok ne of the cat trees. He got mad cause i put him up on the loft to eat... and well speedy hopped right off and left him up there. When he was done eating and decided he wanted to jump speedy again he climbed up onto the railing but then got a lil scared cause the new one is a good foot and half higher than the other one. So, i helped him down to the cat tree and he immediately jumped to thw.otjer one, speedy kinda sqwacked and flew to one of the old bars. I picked her up and took her to the loft and let her choose to go up or on the cat tree. She went up and fancy went ape.

 

[Raenh]

Pretty bruises lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

You and your ducks are funny. You have a great relationship with them. I love it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

View attachment 1239420
Pretty bruises lol

Oh my goodness that has to stop.

 

[Raenh]

Yes, yes it does... i did what you said and also added in when that doesn't work i grab his bill and hold it closed lightly. And when he kept biting after ive let go, i technically smack him, but i use two fingers and i tapped his bill somewhere between med and light, and tell him no! And of course that worked for five seconds, so my last try and that made him stop for now, was i lightly bit him on his neck back, like i used to do to my kittens when they'd bite to hard. He got a lil bugged cause i shocked him, i think... but he quit.

Now if i could get them both to stop pecking liam when he walks past... poor poppy is gonna snap one day when im not here.... and imma have to disown him and send him to live with someone else. I think all my animals know id do that if they seriously hurt each other, so they dont. Liam and cats get along like peas in pod.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I sure wouldn't have my dog closed up inside with my ducks it is just too easy for something awful to happen. My dog lost it when our gander popped her on the butt one to many times and she grabbed him by the neck, thank goodness we were right there when it happened. Another time my gander came to the back door and knocked with his bill and same dog reached through the dog door and grabbed him by his chest I knew for sure she had mortally wounded him when I saw all the feathers inside, but thankfully she only got feathers and no body. So 2 wake up calls neither serious but could have been, so Ducks and geese and dogs are all supervised when together.

 

[gilbert2]

Raenh dear, It's obvious youi love and care for your ducks. But........there is such a thing as anthropomorphizing (giving human characteristics/emotions/thoughts to non-humans). It will sound mean to you, but ducks just do not have the intelligence to feel the things you say they do. Like knowing you'd send them away if they did certain things. C'mon.