What to do with this outcasted drake?

[ruthhope]

Have you had any experience keeping multiple drakes together alone? I'm thinking about putting him back with the girls next week and putting the other two boys in their own run next to them for the spring/summer.

I have three rescued drakes together. Mine were Los Tres Amigos until Christmas but they have been tiffing for three weeks since then. Alpha male muscovy bullying smallest male, a pekin. They had been big buddies with the Pekin very loud and bossy. Then alpha male muscovy was attacked by my other muscovy that is bottom of the pecking order. I have spent three weeks putting ducks into dog crates for time out and giving ducks extra time with me. Plus dealing with alpha male muscovy that started attacking me too. I think it was male hormones kicking in as the muscovies are now 6 months old. The pekin is 9 months but has no fight in him -- just a loud mouth. The bottom of the pecking order muscovy and the pekin started refusing to go into the pen with alpha male unless he was in the dog crate. But they also would not go in the pen if alpha male was out in the yard in the dog crate. They all had to go in together, just alpha male had to be in the crate! Fortunately for 3 nights, now they have chosen to go in together. i just make sure I let them out at first light, before alpha male gets mean in the pen. Well as i said, they seem to be settling back down into Los Tres Amigos again.

 

[SeaSea47]

I have three rescued drakes together. Mine were Los Tres Amigos until Christmas but they have been tiffing for three weeks since then. Alpha male muscovy bullying smallest male, a pekin. They had been big buddies with the Pekin very loud and bossy. Then alpha male muscovy was attacked by my other muscovy that is bottom of the pecking order. I have spent three weeks putting ducks into dog crates for time out and giving ducks extra time with me. Plus dealing with alpha male muscovy that started attacking me too. I think it was male hormones kicking in as the muscovies are now 6 months old. The pekin is 9 months but has no fight in him -- just a loud mouth. The bottom of the pecking order muscovy and the pekin started refusing to go into the pen with alpha male unless he was in the dog crate. But they also would not go in the pen if alpha male was out in the yard in the dog crate. They all had to go in together, just alpha male had to be in the crate! Fortunately for 3 nights, now they have chosen to go in together. i just make sure I let them out at first light, before alpha male gets mean in the pen. Well as i said, they seem to be settling back down into Los Tres Amigos again.

This sounds like a very familiar story! My three guys are about 10 to 11 months old, and they've grown up together, but right around Christmas, they started bullying this one I've got on the porch now. And he wants to go into the pen with them, but they chase him back out but if I leave him out, they freak out because he's not with them. That's why I'm hoping side-by-side runs where they can all see each other and not fight might be the answers, and maybe they can just free-range together. And the fights seem to be over food and water, not girls like I always thought they would be. Luckily, none have attacked me, but my boys are pretty skittish. I can sit down on the ground and the girls are climbing on me and eating out of my hands, but the boys keep their distance, which makes separating and catching them even harder. Mine are all khaki Campbell, but I'm hoping to add some Welsh harlequin girls in this spring. Good luck with your crew!

 

[ruthhope]

This sounds like a very familiar story! My three guys are about 10 to 11 months old, and they've grown up together, but right around Christmas, they started bullying this one I've got on the porch now. And he wants to go into the pen with them, but they chase him back out but if I leave him out, they freak out because he's not with them. That's why I'm hoping side-by-side runs where they can all see each other and not fight might be the answers, and maybe they can just free-range together. And the fights seem to be over food and water, not girls like I always thought they would be. Luckily, none have attacked me, but my boys are pretty skittish. I can sit down on the ground and the girls are climbing on me and eating out of my hands, but the boys keep their distance, which makes separating and catching them even harder. Mine are all khaki Campbell, but I'm hoping to add some Welsh harlequin girls in this spring. Good luck with your crew!

The preventing a duck from eating and drinking is dominance behavior.

I'm glad you have a second pen that your ducks can be separated to. I have to manage with the dog crate: it just goes through the door of the pen and then no one -- no person no duck -- can get in or out once the crate is in. My local rehabber, from whom I got Alpha male mucsovy and the little pekin drake as ducky friends for my own rescued muscovy, is firm in the belief that new behavior is modifiable. A duck that is mean from being a duckling probably can't change but one that becomes mean can learn to not be mean. Certainly the intense therapy I am giving alpha male seems to have made a big difference. He is no longer flying at me and attacking me although he sometimes needs reminding he is not allowed to bite my feet! Putting him in the cooler [time out in the dog crate] seems to have reduced his mean behavior towards the pekin which I will not tolerate. The pekin has a damaged bill from a raccoon attack when he was a small duckling, and is small as a result [either from not being able to eat enough and or from the psychological trauma of the racoon attack.] He is a loud mouth but he has absolutely no meanness and no fight in him. I wont let the muscovies bully him!

 

[SeaSea47]

The preventing a duck from eating and drinking is dominance behavior.

I'm glad you have a second pen that your ducks can be separated to. I have to manage with the dog crate: it just goes through the door of the pen and then no one -- no person no duck -- can get in or out once the crate is in. My local rehabber, from whom I got Alpha male mucsovy and the little pekin drake as ducky friends for my own rescued muscovy, is firm in the belief that new behavior is modifiable. A duck that is mean from being a duckling probably can't change but one that becomes mean can learn to not be mean. Certainly the intense therapy I am giving alpha male seems to have made a big difference. He is no longer flying at me and attacking me although he sometimes needs reminding he is not allowed to bite my feet! Putting him in the cooler [time out in the dog crate] seems to have reduced his mean behavior towards the pekin which I will not tolerate. The pekin has a damaged bill from a raccoon attack when he was a small duckling, and is small as a result [either from not being able to eat enough and or from the psychological trauma of the racoon attack.] He is a loud mouth but he has absolutely no meanness and no fight in him. I wont let the muscovies bully him!

I don't actually have a second pen - I'll have to throw something together this week if I do end up having to separate them. My guys have been very sweet up until this point, so I'm hoping their behavior will not last. Maybe I should try separating them for a while too. My little injured guy is doing better today. He's putting more weight on his foot, so I'm thinking it's just sprained or bruised.

 

[SeaSea47]

My little guy is walking completely normal now! He'll go back out tomorrow or Monday, depending on the weather (we're supposed to get an ice storm tomorrow and if it's bad, I'll keep him inside). I've never reintegrated a duck (just chickens). Should they accept him back ok?

 

[ruthhope]

My little guy is walking completely normal now! He'll go back out tomorrow or Monday, depending on the weather (we're supposed to get an ice storm tomorrow and if it's bad, I'll keep him inside). I've never reintegrated a duck (just chickens). Should they accept him back ok?

Do keep him warm and safe inside. The eastern USA is in for really bad weather tomorrow!

 

[SeaSea47]

Do keep him warm and safe inside. The eastern USA is in for really bad weather tomorrow!

I definitely will. He's curled up on a fleece blanket right now!

 

[SeaSea47]

Ok, I put my little guy back outside today, and he was soooooo happy to see his friends. But my other two drakes are chasing him away from the food and water and the group. I intervened a bit and they stopped, but they still chase him away. I'm fine letting them all free range together, but I hate to lock them up in the pen together tonight because I don't yet have a separate place for him. But then again, someone told me this is just normal behavior and they won't kill him? I have no idea...I'm still fairly new to ducks. Any suggestions?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do you have a dog crate he can sleep in inside the coop. If he were mine I would not let him sleep in the coop unprotected. I had a Muscovy drake kill another drake. Sure isn't worth him possibly dying or being beaten up. Another simple means of separation would be fencing part of your run so he is on one side the 2 drakes on the other, They know he isn't going to fight back. I like to have my flock as stress-free as possible. Of course there are going to be squabbles but being chased away from food and water is just plain bullying.

 

[SeaSea47]

Do you have a dog crate he can sleep in inside the coop. If he were mine I would not let him sleep in the coop unprotected. I had a Muscovy drake kill another drake. Sure isn't worth him possibly dying or being beaten up. Another simple means of separation would be fencing part of your run so he is on one side the 2 drakes on the other, They know he isn't going to fight back. I like to have my flock as stress-free as possible. Of course there are going to be squabbles but being chased away from food and water is just plain bullying.

That's what I'm afraid of. Next week, when our weather is a little better and I had more time off work, I'm going to add on some extra space to their run so I can keep him and one of the girls separate during mating season or until I can get more girls. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with him in the meantime. I may have to bring him back on my porch for a week or two...maybe with one of the girls. I just don't know which one to choose.