The Quack Shack

[Miss Lydia]

I would keep her on one side and the other on the other. Maybe put her group with her. they could really hurt her if they gang up and why put her through the stress. Dog crate inside so they can all sleep together.

 

[Supercow]

Ha, okay.... In the crate, but the crate to be placed inside the duck house. We haven't thought of that. Stressed out ducks, stressed out humans Thanks, that sounds like a good idea. I just hope the crate can make it through the door ... will check first thing tomorrow, the ducks have all been packed up now (junior in the crate in the human house, no dog access; everybody else in the duck house).

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

In your opinion, should the junior stay separate for a while or not? Maybe not over the day / but yes overnight / any other combination?

We were really worried that she would get hurt with everbody ganging up on her. She's just that much smaller and not even fully feathered in the way our original ducks are. Let's say she has a "hatchback tail"

If you can, separate a piece of the land where your flock is foraging and let junior loose. Then observe how the rest of the flock is behaving: If they rest close to the fence with junior resting on the other side close to them they are ready to be joined.
Junior will have to endure the one or other peck and will be used as a pool-noodle for as long as she/he is junior, but ducks can handle that.
I wouldn't separate a duck from the flock for more than a week, it can even break the bond between nest-buddies and then junior will be all on her/his own, even being alienated by the two other ducks.
You will see in the future that your flock divides into two groups, the five ducks you had and the three new ducks will often go different ways. One group is in front of the house, the other one is in the back for example. That's very normal behaviour, ducks have the closest bonds to their nest buddies, then comes the junior flock (the ducks that grew up together) and then the whole flock.

What gender is junior? - For a duck, it should not be too difficult to become accepted, drakes can be an issue.

In the end there's no proven "recipe" on how to integrate new ducks, just observe and trust yourself.

And yes, ducks very well understand when you are upset with them and scold at them. So you notice any duck attacking Junior, approach speak with a strong loud voice (My ducks know the meaning of the words "No" and "Nein"), you can even plug the offender from junior's back and give her/him a slap on the rump. This way my drakes have learnt that Mr. Limpy is neither to be pecked at nor to be used as float. They respect that rule 95% of all times.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use a dog crate in my coop in case of crazy broodies attacking others. My goose is actually using it at night for now mean broody. I have to put her in it she would rather chase the ducks all over the coop and keep everyone upset.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Wow. When was that? Zombie apocalypse for animals

It is the same in almost every country over the world where animals can contract rabies: There has been a lot of animals with rabies in the past, lot's of dead wild life, several people infected, sometimes a few deaths (humons!). Then the officials jump into actions, orders are given to kill any animal showing symptoms, distributing vaccine-bait until it all winds down. After a couple of years the distribution of vaccine-bait is abandoned due to budget issues and the cycle repeats…

 

[Supercow]

If you can, separate a piece of the land where your flock is foraging and let junior loose. Then observe how the rest of the flock is behaving: If they rest close to the fence with junior resting on the other side close to them they are ready to be joined.
Junior will have to endure the one or other peck and will be used as a pool-noodle for as long as she/he is junior, but ducks can handle that.
I wouldn't separate a duck from the flock for more than a week, it can even break the bond between nest-buddies and then junior will be all on her/his own, even being alienated by the two other ducks.
You will see in the future that your flock divides into two groups, the five ducks you had and the three new ducks will often go different ways. One group is in front of the house, the other one is in the back for example. That's very normal behaviour, ducks have the closest bonds to their nest buddies, then comes the junior flock (the ducks that grew up together) and then the whole flock.

What gender is junior? - For a duck, it should not be too difficult to become accepted, drakes can be an issue.

In the end there's no proven "recipe" on how to integrate new ducks, just observe and trust yourself.

And yes, ducks very well understand when you are upset with them and scold at them. So you notice any duck attacking Junior, approach speak with a strong loud voice (My ducks know the meaning of the words "No" and "Nein"), you can even plug the offender from junior's back and give her/him a slap on the rump. This way my drakes have learnt that Mr. Limpy is neither to be pecked at nor to be used as float. They respect that rule 95% of all times.

Well, this is how we got in trouble in the first place -- the two groups seemed so eager to come together and then boom, gang war.

It's also entirely possible that we as people with only a month of duck experience are overreacting to the whole thing and some level of bullying is just a rite of passage so to speak. We got spooked because to us it seemed brutal and we worried the junior would be hurt because of the sheer size difference.

The junior is presumably a female (quacks, doesn't hiss; but also peeps).

Very good info in your post, thank you.

 

[Supercow]

It is the same in almost every country over the world where animals can contract rabies: There has been a lot of animals with rabies in the past, lot's of dead wild life, several people infected, sometimes a few deaths (humons!). Then the officials jump into actions, orders are given to kill any animal showing symptoms, distributing vaccine-bait until it all winds down. After a couple of years the distribution of vaccine-bait is abandoned due to budget issues and the cycle repeats…

As I understand it in Slovenia we have a regular anti-rabies program which also includes dispersing vaccine bait and it's been going on for a very long time.

But yes, what you're saying about focus and budget shifting in a rinse repeat fashion sounds very familiar (just happily not in this particular instance).

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Well, this is how we got in trouble in the first place -- the two groups seemed so eager to come together and then boom, gang war.

It's also entirely possible that we as people with only a month of duck experience are overreacting to the whole thing and some level of bullying is just a rite of passage so to speak. We got spooked because to us it seemed brutal and we worried the junior would be hurt because of the sheer size difference.

The junior is presumably a female (quacks, doesn't hiss; but also peeps).

Very good info in your post, thank you.

Ducks are rough! - Y'aint seen nothin' yet! Be prepared for:

• Duck mating on land: Even if you don't have a drake, the ducks will still "mate" with each other. It looks and it is brutal and very often the mated duck limps for a while.
• Duck mating in the water: Even scarier! - After almost five years of ducks, i am still becoming nervous watching a duck literally being drowned by the drakes… No duck has been harmed so far.
• Drake fights: Feathers will fly like in a pillow fight.
• Molting season: Feathers everywhere and sometimes they get it all wrong and shed all of their feathers at once. Violeta Duck won me a price in the worst molting competition for chickens. Poor girl was almost naked!
• Broody ducks: Your sweet ducky turns into a cobra-chicken, hissing and snapping at you. When she comes outside once a day she blasts out a rabbit size , quacks like a goblin is riding on her back and flings around like a pinball. (This is how Pinball Duck got her name)

Scared? - That all pales to what wild Mallards are doing to each other during mating season, they…

• … do dog-fights in the air, including crashes that look like no survival is possible. - No dead drake so far
• … chase the females to complete exhaustion. I was sitting at the pond one afternoon, watching a group of drakes chasing a duck until she was too exhausted to fly. She dropped into the pond, trying to out-dive the drakes until she ran out of breath. She spotted me, sitting un the bench and with her last bit of strength managed to flee to me, quacking for asylum. Had to shoo the drakes away several times while she was resting under the bank. - A wild duck!
• … clump around a poor female in what i can only describe as a »mating ball« with the poor duck somewhere in the center. Last week i dragged the duck out of such a mass and while she sat on my arm, we both looked puzzled at the drakes who continued fighting and mating each other. Then she looked at me, realizing that a wild duck should not sit on a humon's arm and flew away. - Immediately chased by the drakes who finally had realized that she had escaped.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

As I understand it in Slovenia we have a regular anti-rabies program which also includes dispersing vaccine bait and it's been going on for a very long time.

But yes, what you're saying about focus and budget shifting in a rinse repeat fashion sounds very familiar (just happily not in this particular instance).

I went through this vicious cycle twice when living in Germany: Rabies was rampant when i was a kid and my parents would not let me go into the forest alone. Then the foxes were all either vaccinated or shot and it was all safe again. As a teenager i experienced the same situation and of course one politician blamed the other for stopping the bait-program. - Which was resumed on short notice.
Nowadays - i don't know. But i assume that too many foxes are being killed in car accidents before they can spread the virus.

 

[Pyxis]

What kind of breed are they? - They almost look like Runner Mallards to me.

They're Indian Runners They are gray, so they will be the same color as mallards.