There has been a fight

[ruthhope]

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?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'd be careful mixing muscovy drakes with other breeds. I've seen some pretty big fights between my muscovy drakes. They can get to be a big tussle. Not sure if other breeds fight like that. They can be hard to break up sometimes, and muscovy claws can be quite sharp.

 

[ruthhope]

I'd be careful mixing muscovy drakes with other breeds. I've seen some pretty big fights between my muscovy drakes. They can get to be a big tussle. Not sure if other breeds fight like that. They can be hard to break up sometimes, and muscovy claws can be quite sharp.

My pekin drake thinks he is a muscovy and is tightly bonded with Pato as they were raised together after rescue. I have had no problems bringing in pekin rescues to rehab before rehoming. I rescued two pekins last May and got distracted by a family matter from rehoming them last July when they were ready. I eventually found them a new home at the end of December. They ruled the roost while fostered in my flock.

All ducks have pecking order behavior and my drakes do too. This photo is of the boys 60 minutes later: all together and pally. I posted as I am not certain who was the aggressor this time although I have come to a tentative conclusion it was Daffy settling an old score with Pato. But I only think that as Pato is looking scruffy. I am not seeing injuries on either of them.

Muscovy get bad press but I think they are lovely. They are friendly and inquisitive. I pick them all up when necessary: they are big boys but not difficult to handle

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

They do have a WWE look about them..

 

[Miss Lydia]

Its that time of year. There will be fights and tussles. My Muscovy drakes could never live together in harmony they each had their own part of their fenced-in property except at night when they had their own stall with tops to keep them from climbing out[Muscovy are great climbers].
Hopefully, whatever happened @ruthhope they have worked it out ...till the next time. lol
My Muscovy drake and my Runner drake get along fine, they completely ignore each other.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My pekin drake thinks he is a muscovy and is tightly bonded with Pato as they were raised together after rescue. I have had no problems bringing in pekin rescues to rehab before rehoming. I rescued two pekins last May and got distracted by a family matter from rehoming them last July when they were ready. I eventually found them a new home at the end of December. They ruled the roost while fostered in my flock.

All ducks have pecking order behavior and my drakes do too. This photo is of the boys 30 minutes later: all together and pally. I posted as I am not certain who was the aggressor this time although I have come to a tentative conclusion it was Daffy settling an old score with Pato. But I only think that as Pato is looking scruffy. I am not seeing injuries on either of them.

Muscovy get bad press but I think they are lovely. They are friendly and inquisitive. I pick them all up when necessary: they are big boys but not difficult to handleView attachment 3407402

I agree that muscovy are great ducks. I've kept them for decades. This time of year fights may break out because they will want to reestablish that pecking order and move up if possible. Only sharing my experiences with drakes fighting. The pecking order is fluid and can change.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I agree it's probably Springtime getting into them, but as to who did what to whom, I think you're going to have to witness it to figure it out.

 

[ruthhope]

They do have a WWE look about them..

Bruisers? Daffy is certainly is a big fat lump of duck -- but it's all bravado [as I think WWE is]. He loves being petted and comes up and demands it. That is him in my avatar photo behind Ping and Big Boy, two pekins in the foreground

They do have a WWE look about them..

 

[ruthhope]

I agree that muscovy are great ducks. I've kept them for decades. This time of year fights may break out because they will want to reestablish that pecking order and move up if possible. Only sharing my experiences with drakes fighting. The pecking order is fluid and can change.

Absolutely. Today's skirmish left enough feathers for me to be worried a predator had got in as I ran to the shed where the ducks are staying. But neither of the dark muscovy is injured. Daffy and Pato have been together since they were 8 weeks old. Ping has been with Pato for longer -- since Pato was maybe 4 weeks old. Ping is older but was recovering from a raccoon attack that took his clutch mate. Pato and Daffy were July 2021 ducklings whereas Ping was an Easter 2021 duckling [Early April 2021] Ping bonded tightly with Pato when recovered enough to run around with the newly rescued ducklings. When the muscovy were 12 weeks old, they snuggled up together and Daffy rested his head across Pato's shoulders. But they spent most of 2022 basically ignoring each other although living in the same coop and eating from the same bowls. I was never sure who was top duck. Then late 2022 Daffy had a big and long molt -- nearly 6 weeks -- and he was definitely run down. Pato took advantage of his weak state on a few occasions. Hence my thinking that Daffy might have settled an old score with Pato. But the complicating factor is Butter who joined the flock end December 2022. He and Daffy have tussled -- nothing major -- on and off. I think Butter was also taking advantage of Daffy having had the long debilitating molt. It was Butter's aggression that was making Daffy reluctant to go in the shed at night. A simple partition was all it took to reduce Daffy's timerity for the last 5 nights. I have not seen Butter and Pato tussling and they did share Pato's roost the night the temps dropped to 14F. So it might have been Butter standing on Daffy, but Daffy shows no signs and Butter had retreated up high in the shed. It could have been Daffy standing on Pato -- Pato shows no injuries but does look more scruffy than usual [Pato doesn't like bathing and rarely looks spick and span!] Or perhaps it was Pato standing on Daffy but again, Pato had retreated to the top of the garden table. So my Sherlock Holmes/Dr Watson deduction is that the aggressor was most likely Daffy. Naughty boy!

I foresee I will be continuing to partition the shed while we remain here in Northern Virginia. I had wanted to avoid dog crates in my coop when we go home as it gets very congested. I might use the dog pen there to make cubicles!!

 

[Canadian Wind]

As @WannaBeHillBilly says, they are being drakeholes!