Sudden onset of behavior issues

[Starholdr9]

I raised my pekins Franklin and Abigail (both females) since they were 2 days old. A month ago, Abigail passed away out of nowhere. Immediately after Abigail passed away, Franklin pulled all of her wing feathers.

Ever since the day Aigail died, Franklin hates me. She puffs up, bobs her head at me, and won't come near me. The only thing i can attribute to this is that she watched me remove Abigail from the pen (dumb move). Also, every morning all she does is scream her head off. This also happens sporadically throughout the day.

She is not entirely alone now. Right next to her is a pen of 4 chickens and through their pen, she can see my crested pekins. I cant put her with the cresteds because the male breeds her to near death. I do let her stay out of her pen all day so that she can go sit near the others if she chooses.

Has anyone experienced this? Should i try and find her a female companion?

My heart is broken. This is my baby that used to love me so much and Now she wants to tear me to pieces.

 

[jdywntr]

Sorry for the loss of Abigail. But, ducks aren't going to hold the removal of a body against you. I process my birds and while I don't do it within eyesight of the others, they forget very quickly ( a few hours usually) that I was in there catching some of their flock mates.

Most likely she is reacting to being alone. Just seeing other ducks and chickens isn't enough to provide companionship. Because she doesn't have another duck to act like a duck with, she is focusing all of her behavior on you. The noise in the morning and during the day is also because she is alone.

How many other ducks do you have? When you say that your drake "breeds her to death" is she being injured or is he just overly attentive? If they are not always together, he may show her extra attention at first since he is mating and dominating her since she isn't a part of his flock. I find that many people that observe breeding behavior in ducks find it very violent but typically it is just normal behavior. As long as you have a few other females and only 1 drake, I'd try to integrate her into that flock. She will probably be picked on a bit since adding or removing birds alters the flock dynamic.

 

[Starholdr9]

Thank you for your response.

The drake is penned with another female. When Abigail was still alive, I tried putting all 4 ducks together for a few weeks. During this time, Conrad (my drake) constantly bred Franklin and rarely the others. Franklin had a bloody neck and was drastically losing weight. It got to the point where Franklin no longer stayed with the flock but would distance herself from the other 3. I eventually separated everyone back to the original pairs: Crisper and Conrad (the cresteds), Franklin and Abigail.

I also wonder if losing Abigail was like losing a mate because, although Franklin is a female, she used to try to breed Abigail. I know you say that have short memory spans but I also know that they have memories that are sharp enough to learn and remember tricks, behaviors, etc.

I really would hate to put her through the trauma of being re-introduced to Conrad. I did try it a couple days after Abigail's passing and the typical insanity ensued. Immediately upon separation, Franklin seemed to be relieved.

Do you think I should try it again? If so, how long do I give it before throwing in the towel and separating them. Do you think I should try adding a new female to Franklin's pen?

 

[jdywntr]

I don't think that I'd try putting the female with the pair again if you've tried a few times. Some males are fine in a pair, some require alot of girls. You may be better off trying to add more females. 4-6 females per drake is recommended and your boy seems to be a bit more interested. If you were able to get more similar aged females and introduce them to Franklin first then to the pair, that may work. Franklin would have a flock and then you could intro the female in the pair (removing the male from all) and then intro all of the girls to the drake.

What looks like mating behavior between just females or just males is normal, and usually just a dominance display, especially when both genders aren't present in the flock.

I'm not saying that ducks have no memory but they don't hold grudges. While Franklin has no companion, her behavior is unlikely to change.

Ultimately, it depends on how many ducks you want. You can try to find a companion for Franklin or look to find several more and have one flock.

 

[Carcajou]

Starholdr9. Sorry for your loss. jdywnter offers some excellent advice. Good luck with ironing out your issues.

 

[Starholdr9]

Thank you!