- Aug 8, 2013
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So my boyfriend wanted to raise baby chicks about a year ago, but being that we stay on the same property as his parents, his mom did not want the chickens because they tear up the garden and landscaping. So we got 9 newly hatched ducks, Rouen and Pekin and mixed of the 2 breeds. Fast forward to when the ducks are closer to full size, we moved them out of the chicken coop and into their own pen in the pasture by the pond. We had 4 males and 5 females once we were able to tell the sex. One male and one female were taken by predators, and one female was drowned by 2 drakes. I adopted a lonely Pekin Drake from a friend and he paired off with one of the females. They ended up having 8 ducklings, 2 of which did not make it, among others that did not make it through hatching.
I have 2 Pekin Drakes which are for the most part, sweet and gentle. And 2 Rouen Drakes who are rather aggressive. From what I can tell from the reading and research that I have done,out of the ducklings, all but one are female. One of the Rouen drakes is constantly terrorizing all of the other ducks. He chases them, rips out their feathers and rips off their skin leaving scabs. He will not let any ducks in the pond and won't let most of them eat. He chases them, tries to force himself on them, pins them, almost drowns them half the time. I want to get rid of him, for the sake of the other oversexed females and all the new ducks.
For now, The ducklings are being housed with the mother at night.
My boyfriend thinks we can just throw them all in one pen and they will "work it out". I disagree. I've been trying to read and find as much information as I can about raising ducks, their behavior and managing them. Everything I have found thus far says to cull the problem ducks. I don't really want to give the duck to someone else just for them to have the same issue with the duck being an @$$hole. This duck is just a jerk, he is so mean, I almost think he's evil?
Can I get some advice? I know that even with the amount of females we have, we need more. And if I get rid of the one aggressive Rouen, is the other Rouen just going to step up and take the place of @$$hole duck?
I've seen how they are when they mate, they try and hold the females heads under, it's horrific. They already drowned one of my girls a while back, and they pick on the black and white girls, and seem to worship the brown ones. Does anyone know why that is?
The white ones are so much more gentle and caring, they even try to work together to keep the girl's head above water, and they aren't so mean and relentless. I'm going out of my mind! Please any help would be so greatly appreciated! I want my babies to be safe and feel that way too.
Sabrina
I have 2 Pekin Drakes which are for the most part, sweet and gentle. And 2 Rouen Drakes who are rather aggressive. From what I can tell from the reading and research that I have done,out of the ducklings, all but one are female. One of the Rouen drakes is constantly terrorizing all of the other ducks. He chases them, rips out their feathers and rips off their skin leaving scabs. He will not let any ducks in the pond and won't let most of them eat. He chases them, tries to force himself on them, pins them, almost drowns them half the time. I want to get rid of him, for the sake of the other oversexed females and all the new ducks.
For now, The ducklings are being housed with the mother at night.
My boyfriend thinks we can just throw them all in one pen and they will "work it out". I disagree. I've been trying to read and find as much information as I can about raising ducks, their behavior and managing them. Everything I have found thus far says to cull the problem ducks. I don't really want to give the duck to someone else just for them to have the same issue with the duck being an @$$hole. This duck is just a jerk, he is so mean, I almost think he's evil?
Can I get some advice? I know that even with the amount of females we have, we need more. And if I get rid of the one aggressive Rouen, is the other Rouen just going to step up and take the place of @$$hole duck?
I've seen how they are when they mate, they try and hold the females heads under, it's horrific. They already drowned one of my girls a while back, and they pick on the black and white girls, and seem to worship the brown ones. Does anyone know why that is?
The white ones are so much more gentle and caring, they even try to work together to keep the girl's head above water, and they aren't so mean and relentless. I'm going out of my mind! Please any help would be so greatly appreciated! I want my babies to be safe and feel that way too.
Sabrina
