DaYooper_Duck
Songster
This morning while I was refilling my ducks' mini kiddie pool, one names Monroe hopped in, which is not uncommon. But then she completely flattened herself out-neck, body, wings and all. I thought she was just trying to get as much of her body in the few inches of water as possible, but then one of my other, more dominant ducks named Alex, grabbed the nape of her neck and started shaking it, and pulling it all over the place. Monroe didn't struggle or try to fight back, instead she just sat there, a stiff duck bowling pin shaped pankake. Then my last duck, Raven grabbed the top of her head and started shaking that too. Niether dominant girl tried to mount her, or anything, just shaking her mercilessly. Not once did Monroe try to break free. They stopped for a moment, then Monroe flattened back out, this time with her shoulders down, and her wingtips and tail up. The ritual was then repeated, just for not quite as long. The whole thing looked to me like a sort of breeding thing, or a cultish heiarchy ritual.
So my question is, what exactly did I witness? Was Moroe asking to be bred? Was she just showing her submissiveness in allowing the other girls to dominate her? For context, they are all girls, about 14 weeks old. I had been seeing missing feathers on the napes of both Raven and Monroe's necks, wich I totally expected as they are sorting out the pecking order, but this was the first time I actually witnessed the deed being done. Thoughts?
So my question is, what exactly did I witness? Was Moroe asking to be bred? Was she just showing her submissiveness in allowing the other girls to dominate her? For context, they are all girls, about 14 weeks old. I had been seeing missing feathers on the napes of both Raven and Monroe's necks, wich I totally expected as they are sorting out the pecking order, but this was the first time I actually witnessed the deed being done. Thoughts?
