Vampire Duck!

[Quackers Mama]

Quackers is about six weeks old & has this habit of biting. The little nibbles tickle & don't hurt. Yet there's times he goes for blood! He's made me bleed once & another time it was my boyfriends mother. He hasn't made my daughter bleed, but has made her cry. He's inside right now till we can build him a house outside. I've tried beak taps ( he now knows the finger & dips & dodges lol), lately when he's in his "nibbling" mood I'll give him a toy which seems to work. Then he'll be in the nibbling mood again & be on the search for feet again. Is there something I can do to stop this nasty habit? I don't want to have to give him away, but if he keeps it up I won't have a say in the matter.

 

[Amykins]

At six weeks he's an unruly teenager. What you need to do is correct him every time he bites by holding his bill shut, giving him a quick tap and a firm "NO". In the wild mama ducks will often snap at babies when they do something she doesn't like, so they learn proper duck behavior. If he dodges it, catch him and do the tap. You can't be inconsistent with this. I cannot stress that enough.

I began doing this with Wobbles when she was just three weeks old, and now at seven weeks she's very well-behaved (I also rewarded her with a bit of kale every time she stopped just with the "NO" command).

By giving him a toy when he does something bad you are reinforcing the bad behavior. Unfortunately, if you don't start disciplining him immediately, by time he's fully grown the behavior will be ingrained and it will be extremely difficult to teach him about boundaries.

 

[Quackers Mama]

Ohh so this is the teenage stage lol. I do the beak hold as well as tap with a firm NO. I've been doing the beak tap/hold ever since he started doing it. My boyfriend on the other hand would let him nibble on him till he got annoyed & would yell for me to get him off of him lol. How long does the teenager stage last & is there anything else I should expect? Lol.

 

[Amykins]

Yeesh, tell him to cut that shizz out, if you send the duckling mixed signals he's not gonna learn! Hehe I love how you wear the pants when it comes to duck discipline. XD

As for if he's gonna come out of it, I don't really know. I've never had a problem with Wobbles whatsoever, and I don't have a male to contend with, either. But being consistent in your discipline will definitely help curb the bad behavior!

 

[Quackers Mama]

Haha in a lot of child-parent relationships it's typically the mother's role to be the disciplinarian as she's the one who keeps the order in the house. The father is the enforcer when they won't listen to mama lol. That's the way it is in our house, lol.

I call Quackers a "him" because my daughter says it's a boy, "his" gender is unknown at this time lol.