So we invited our bully to dinner!

[RedfogsFlock]

We have a few ducks, and lately we have had one that has been bullying the other ducks, especially the younger babies.

He picks em up by their necks and will fling them around, get them on the ground and proceed to pull feathers out of their necks & make holes in them.

Then today I noticed that after he gets them down the other 3 of his kind join in. Well tonight I was out watering and I hear our broody duck going off. I look over and there he is pulling her off her nest by her neck!

When he pulls her off the nest he rushes onto the nest and starts tearing it apart! flipping eggs out onto the ground, and just making a mess!

Then when mama goes after him he grabs her by her neck & proceeds to tear at her neck!

I was so furious I snatched him up, took him to the house, and had myself a good ol duck dinner!

This isn't a one time thing, we've been fighting with him now for a few weeks. The baby ducks (2months old) have been running around flappin their wings & quacking all night! I actually had to make all the other ducks stop celebrating!

The other three are next. We decided tonight to finish fattening them up and put em in our freezer too. They are pekin ducks.

 

[dancingbear]

I used to have Khaki Campbells, and the drakes were awful! They killed all the male ducklings if I didn't get them out of there. I didn't know they'd do that, until it happened.

On a happier note, I hear Pekins are mighty tasty! In fact, I've been told that duck fat is better than butter, so you might want to save it for cooking. It's supposed to make heavenly biscuits and pastries, and be wonderful for frying potatoes.

I have a pair of 'scovies now, the female's on eggs right now. A friend who raises them told me he's never seen the male 'scovies attack or harass any of the babies at all, so I'm hopeful that it won't be a problem, now.

 

[newchickmom09]

My swedish mix broody just hatch out 10 ducklings and my male went crazy on them just like you discribed.

With the way we have the chicken coop and garden fencing placed we were able to fence him a little area of his own. He is very smart and was a able to get over my 5 foot welded wire fencing the first day he was in there. After a few adjustments he is not able to get out. I had no idea that they could go from protecting the broody to crazy in minutes. I really don't know what we are going to do with him yet.

Pekins are Mmmm mmm good.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

LOL..that is a Great ending to a sad story...did you ever get the hen's eggs and all back under her? I hope she still hatches them ok...at least they will be bully free duckies now....Yayyy for you.

 

[dancingbear]

I only had the KC's for a few years, not really long enough to be sure, but what I observed seems to indicate what I'm about to describe...

It seems that the ratio of male to female ducklings is influenced by the ratio of M/F adults present. When we had only 3 females and 1 male, the eggs that hatched produced 5 males and 2 females. The adult male attacked all but 2 ducklings, we separated him from them, and as they got bigger we saw what we had. He continued to pick on the males, but left the girls alone. Later, when we had so many males, the eggs that hatched were almost all female. The ones that the drakes attacked always turned out to be males, that is, the ones that lived long enough for us to find out for sure. The color differences develop pretty young in KC's, so it doesn't take very long to find out who's who.

It's entirely possible that the M/F ratio we observed was a coincidence. But it's possible that the pheromones of the adults could influence what gender develops in the eggs. Maybe by causing the drakes to produce mostly sperm of whichever gender is lacking. Maybe it's the females' eggs that determine which is which. I don't know enough about bird reproduction details to say, and what applies to chickens, which I know a lot more about, might not apply to ducks. Maybe somebody else on here will know more about it.

I am sure that with KC's, the males will do their best to kill any male ducklings. Other breeds, I don't know.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
There is a restaurant in Portland, Maine named simply: Duckfat. Wonderful french fries.

 

[roverjohn]

Duck confit. Mmmmmmmm

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Well crazy enough none of her eggs are fertile, we have candled them to make sure. As a matter of fact they are bad & I mean really bad, lol. Ants ALL over them! I attempted to remove the eggs & our girl went nuts, so we had to give them back. Only one egg made it. I didn't find out till this morning because by the time I was done with mr. bully it was well after dark and she was back on her shattered nest. Also in a mood not to be messed with!

So I gave her fresh fertile chicken eggs to sit on this morning!

Our male to female ratio is 2 drakes to 9 females, if what ya all are saying is correct then it's 3 drakes to 8 females! Even then though I would have thought that was PLENTY of females to go around!

Anywho, he was tasty! I'm sure the other two pekins will be too. For now all's peaceful in Duckland!

 

[dancingbear]

Make sure when the chicken eggs hatch, that mama duck doesn't have any way to take them to water. (other than a waterer that they can't drown in) She may very well try to teach the chicks to swim, and that never works out well. Maybe you'll get a chance to swap them out with some fertile duck eggs.

Yeah, those drakes, it doesn't matter if there are plenty of females, they want them all to themselves. Good to hear all is peaceful, for now!

 

[JJchiknshak]

From what I understand you are supposed to separate broody females and young birds from the rest of the flock to prevent those problems.