Sassy, jealous duck??

[Percipen]

I have 5 females and a drake. My oldest female regularly mates with our drake and has an attachment to him, but she makes it difficult for him to mate with the other girls. She bites him and the other girls when he tries to mount them. Even when the other girls just "flirt" with him, my crazy girl goes on the defense. 3 of the girls were introduced to the flock in December/January, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. Should I be concerned with this? Should I separate her even though shes currently not causing any harm to the others?

 

[DucksAreBest]

On this website https://thecapecoop.com/understanding-backyard-duck-behavior/
under "Drakes and Mating Habits" it says:

"The female behavior will also change when there is a drake present. They become less welcoming to new ducks because while drakes are not monogamous, female ducks have their favorite mate and they don’t really like sharing. The head duck will usually be the one that sticks closest to the drake all day. If you have multiple drakes, each drake will usually have a “head wife” that he hangs out with most and is the nicest to. But that won’t stop him from mating all the other ducks on the farm. The females won’t interfere in the mating but she will be sure to let the other females know this is her man."

 

[KaleIAm]

I agree. If she isn't hurting anyone I would probably leave them all together. I would make sure they have plenty of water and food locations available if your dominant duck chases the new girls away from those.

Since my ducks are pets I am sensitive to their emotional health, and I would watch them closely. If your oldest female is stressed all day, or harrasing the new girls all day I might consider putting up a barrier - but it would have to be incessant.

 

[Percipen]

Thanks for the advise! @DucksAreBest that describes my girl perfectly. @KaleIAm they do have multiple food, water and swim areas and they hang out outside of our family room windows, so I'll keep watching to make sure nobody seems stressed. My girl at the bottom of the pecking order is the only one that I could see possibly getting stressed. But, so far, so good. Aside from my girl being sassy, everyone seems to be pretty happy

 

[KaleIAm]

Thanks for the advise! @DucksAreBest that describes my girl perfectly. @KaleIAm they do have multiple food, water and swim areas and they hang out outside of our family room windows, so I'll keep watching to make sure nobody seems stressed. My girl at the bottom of the pecking order is the only one that I could see possibly getting stressed. But, so far, so good. Aside from my girl being sassy, everyone seems to be pretty happy

Sounds ideal to me!

 

[DucksAreBest]

Thanks for the advise! @DucksAreBest that describes my girl perfectly. @KaleIAm they do have multiple food, water and swim areas and they hang out outside of our family room windows, so I'll keep watching to make sure nobody seems stressed. My girl at the bottom of the pecking order is the only one that I could see possibly getting stressed. But, so far, so good. Aside from my girl being sassy, everyone seems to be pretty happy

You're welcome!