There has been a fight

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I came home to feathers on the ground.

Pato, my pugnacious muscovy up on a garden table next to the shed where the ducks are sleeping. Pugnacious with me on occasions not often at odds with the other boys. He has a muddy mark on his neck but no other obvious signs of trauma. Butter was in the shed up on Pato's night time roost. They have shared this roost on occasions. Butter is missing neck feathers from before he came to me and may have lost more in the 7+ weeks he has been with me.

Is it these two boys who had a tussle? Or one or both of the other two, Ping a special needs little pekin and Daffy my original rescued muscovy? Ping is not under suspicion: while he is a silly boy who jabs at the other ducks, he is a scardy cat who runs and hides if one of the muscovy retaliates.

Daffy, was picked on by the others when he had his big molt but became more assertive in the last month. Then 6 days ago he got reluctant to go in the shed at night -- 3 nights on the run, had me running round the back garden trying to shoo him in. I decided to compartmentalize a space just for him and he immediately stopped his reluctance and started being the first or the second inside. He has no sign of missing feathers.

I think that Pato is the victim rather than Daffy, but I dont know who is the aggressor: ? Daffy ? Butter?

Spring is coming early this year!
All of my drakes - aka drakeholes - have started to fight with each other and it is just ½ of February gone. Usually drake-fighting starts her mid March…
You can stuff all the drakes into one bag and spank it, you'll always hit the right one!

 

[ruthhope]

"You can stuff all the drakes into one bag and spank it, you'll always hit the right one!"

LoL @WannaBeHillBilly!!!! My boys are friends again for the moment. I do separate them when there is a serious fight [none yet this year] and when they bite Ping the special needs pekin. But Ping is his own worst enemy. He is all day shouting out loudly in the faces of the others, gesticulating with his head down to warn off the others, and pecking their chests. He is an airhead and doesn't learn. They eventually bite him and he runs away. Pingy obviously has the instincts of an alpha male duck but in no way has the size and fearlessness. I do get cross with the muscovy when they bite Ping in my presence.

Daffy lost many of his chest feathers in his first year to Ping jabbing him and pulling them out.
Daffy quickly learnt that I didn't like him retaliating and just stood his ground and ignore his increasingly threadbare chest. But I don't spend as many hours hanging out with the ducks now [I have a demanding puppy] and Daffy has reverted to expediently biting Ping when Ping gets too annoying. The photo shows Daffy's threadbare chest in Spring 2022.