Rooster and drake fighting to the death.

[Quackwacker]

Ok, I’ve seen my rooster mount the drakes before for dominance and even chase them a little, but nothing like what happened this morning. I only have one rooster right now he’s a light Brahma and he has 11 ladies he handles just fine. I did have only one Muscovy drake until we had a clutch and now I have 3, 10 week old drakes which are just about as big as daddy. I’m not sure what prompted all this but Roostie puffed up to Bog Boy (scovy drake) and Big Boy wasn’t gonna back down til he was dead. He beat him bloody with his wings and tried to break his wings and neck by pinching and pulling with his bill. At that moment I was weighing my options. One one hand the scovy is beautiful and fertilizes my female scovy eggs, on the other hand I have 3 more boys now and only one rooster. So I couldn’t let him kill him. It was crazy. They wouldn’t let up. Finally after a very long while I got Bog Boy far enough away from roostie to pen him in the coup we have for new babies or quarantine when we have an injury. Now I’m not sure how to proceed. Any one have advice to offer on this one?

 

[featheredplanets]

Unless you get rid of either the rooster or the drake, separate the chickens and ducks all together

 

[Quackwacker]

It wouldn’t be hard to separate them during the evening when we cool them, but keeping them separate during the day is only possible if I rotate who gets put in solitary.

 

[birdlover2]

Ok, I’ve seen my rooster mount the drakes before for dominance and even chase them a little, but nothing like what happened this morning. I only have one rooster right now he’s a light Brahma and he has 11 ladies he handles just fine. I did have only one Muscovy drake until we had a clutch and now I have 3, 10 week old drakes which are just about as big as daddy. I’m not sure what prompted all this but Roostie puffed up to Bog Boy (scovy drake) and Big Boy wasn’t gonna back down til he was dead. He beat him bloody with his wings and tried to break his wings and neck by pinching and pulling with his bill. At that moment I was weighing my options. One one hand the scovy is beautiful and fertilizes my female scovy eggs, on the other hand I have 3 more boys now and only one rooster. So I couldn’t let him kill him. It was crazy. They wouldn’t let up. Finally after a very long while I got Bog Boy far enough away from roostie to pen him in the coup we have for new babies or quarantine when we have an injury. Now I’m not sure how to proceed. Any one have advice to offer on this one?

How badly injured is your roo? Taking care of his injuries should be the first order of buisness after seperation of course.

 

[birdlover2]

It wouldn’t be hard to separate them during the evening when we cool them, but keeping them separate during the day is only possible if I rotate who gets put in solitary.

Do you free-range or have a pen that they all share? What does your set-up look like? And what is solitary?

 

[NatJ]

And what is solitary?

Solitary confinement in small coop. Not big enough for the whole flock of either species.
It's mentioned here:

Finally after a very long while I got Bog Boy far enough away from roostie to pen him in the coup we have for new babies or quarantine when we have an injury.

My suggestion is to either butcher the drake and watch his sons carefully in case they try the same thing as they mature, or build more fences/pens. (Possibly rehome the drake instead of butchering, depending on your preferences.)

If you want to continue keeping both chickens and ducks, building another pen or more fencing is probably the best choice.

 

[birdlover2]

 

[Chicalina]

It isn't that odd that there is rivalry. Either the drake was protecting his ducklings (unlikely) or "his" hens. Or maybe the rooster started it to protect his hens, but the drake finished it?

My drakes mated my hens (hence why they had to go!), as well as the ducks, so they clearly have very high testosterone levels. Actually anyone who keeps ducks knows the drakes are randy as hell all the time and there is no such thing as "mating season"!

Which male bird do you value the most? Either get rid of one or make a new coop and run for one species. The 3 young boys will all grow up and be the same: sex crazed hormone nutters!

Can you imagine a nice dry chicken run, easy for them scratching around and dust bathing, and all the mud and wet stink contained somewhere else in the duck only run? I don't keep ducks any more and my chickens thank me for it!!

I do miss them though!

 

[Lawrence Lovestock]

I have a coop that has my 2 turkeys, 1 Tom and my 2 drakes. They’ve been like that since the beginning so they don’t know any difference. I also have a Rooster that we raised from a baby chick. he is in his own coop. He’s not even with the hens because he’s too mean. if I couldn’t keep them separated I know I would have to make a hard decision.

 

[Quackwacker]

Unless you get rid of either the rooster or the drake, separate the chickens and ducks all together

I put my drake in a separate pen all day yesterday and this morning went to let him out so he could have the yard to himself for a bit. But he likes his new digs so much, he wouldn’t leave.