Tiny Duckling Picking on Other Ducklings

[Bailey1204]

I have 10- three day old ducklings, five male and five female. I got a pair of male and female for each of the five breeds I got. My smallest duckling, the male mallard is always pulling on the the other duckling's feathers. So I though if I put two two biggest ducklings in with him he'd stop. So I put the two rouens, which are at least twice his size, in a separate brooder. He was fine for a little while but then about five min later I looked in and he was tugging on feathers. He didn't pull them out he was just tugging on the feathers. What should I do?

 

[Amiga]

How much space do they have? Storey's Guide says that if they are too crowded they could be "feather-eating." And if that is the case, this may be related to this duck needing more elbow room.

 

[Bailey1204]

They have about three times as much space as they take up. Also, I put the dduckling alone with two other ducklings in a 2foot by 3 foot area and he wad still feather pulling

 

[Bailey1204]

But you may be right. I'll try putting all the ducklings in a bigger broader.

 

[Mrs.H]

Do you have something bigger to put them in? That doesn't sound like much space especially at the rate they grow. Maybe get a couple kiddie pools to use as brooders? which they can use outside to swim in once they are bigger.

 

[needlessjunk]

I had one, my welsh harlequin who would always bite the others. She was my smallest and did it from day one and it went one for about 4 weeks. I believe because she was the smallest she had to get her point across to the others to leave her alone. When I upgraded their brooder is would get better but she would still pick on certain ones. Now that they are adults it is fine.

 

[Bailey1204]

The boxes I had them in wad temp. I have another that is like 1and a half ft by three ft

 

[Bailey1204]

I put them in a brooder that is 2 by 3 ft. The duckling was still pulling, really aggressively, like pulling them around the brooder by wing feathers.

 

[DucksAndGardens]

One of mine was doing this and I had a talk (grabbed him by the beak for a heart to heart)with him about it and after a few times of getting my point across he stopped doing it. You might have to just make your point of no picking on the other ducks.