Why is my female Muscovy attacking her Drake?

[PADuckrunner]

I have 3 Muscovy Ducks. One of which was hatched in my hand. Six months later I put her with her mom and dad. The mom and dad will be 3 years old this spring. All three get along great, until about a week ago, all of a sudden the Drake is being bitten to the point of bleeding by his mate. She has him so frightened that he actually hides from her now. So, last night I quarantined him from her. Does anyone know why she is beating him up? Why is he so afraid of her now? He used to be the dominant one. She acts like a cannibalistic beast toward him. Yesterday my daughter and I brought him in the house and bathed him, then put antibacterial cream on his wounds. We noticed his feathers have been plucked out by his mate.

Thank you in advance for all the help I can get from you. This site is where I go when I need help, and can usually find my answers here, but I can't find this one, so thanks to everyone here that can run to the rescue and help my little drake, and maybe with your help we can re-incorporate them back together.

Sincerely PADuckrunner

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 3 Muscovy Ducks. One of which was hatched in my hand. Six months later I put her with her mom and dad. The mom and dad will be 3 years old this spring. All three get along great, until about a week ago, all of a sudden the Drake is being bitten to the point of bleeding by his mate. She has him so frightened that he actually hides from her now. So, last night I quarantined him from her. Does anyone know why she is beating him up? Why is he so afraid of her now? He used to be the dominant one. She acts like a cannibalistic beast toward him. Yesterday my daughter and I brought him in the house and bathed him, then put antibacterial cream on his wounds. We noticed his feathers have been plucked out by his mate.

Thank you in advance for all the help I can get from you. This site is where I go when I need help, and can usually find my answers here, but I can't find this one, so thanks to everyone here that can run to the rescue and help my little drake, and maybe with your help we can re-incorporate them back together.

Sincerely PADuckrunner

I'd say hormones but it's usually the other way around. I would dif keep them apart for now How is she with with the other duck? Have you noticed her eating the feathers? maybe try giving her some high quality cat or dog kibble along with her feed and see if she is lacking protein other than that I have no idea I have 13 Muscovys and have never had a duck act like this with a drake.

 

[PADuckrunner]

Thank you for your response, and glad to know that you have 13 Muskovies, that really helps me if I ever need more help. To answer your question, I have not seen her eat the feathers, but feathers were all over the coop, until we cleaned it out, and put in new straw. As far as her treating her daughter; she is very good to her. I have no idea what is going on. But, as soon as we put the daddy (Clem) in quarantine he began eating and drinking as if he was starving. Today, because it was in the high 40's we let them out to play, and as soon as Clem was put on the ground, he ran and hid from (Daisy), (his mate). The two females (Daisy, and Pippy) went off together playing in the snow. My daughter just told me that Pippy looks as if she is molting. I will definitely keep you informed, and once again, thank you so much. If you find out anything, will you please send me a message? Thank you.

 

[PADuckrunner]

OH, I will try the dog/cat food, to see if that works. I will do that tomorrow, once I go out to give more food and water to them. Then I will let you know from there if there is a change in her attitude.

 

[Miss Lydia]

OH, I will try the dog/cat food, to see if that works. I will do that tomorrow, once I go out to give more food and water to them. Then I will let you know from there if there is a change in her attitude.

Yes it would be worth trying, I am picking up some today myself I have a few molting even though they had their big molt in the fall this has been a wacky 2014 and looks to be another one in 2015. The only time I have ever seen a duck get away with being the least hateful to a drake is when he is under a year old then they can be intimidated by the ducks but that doesn't last long before you know it they realize they are bigger and stronger and can grab onto a duck and pin her down.Make sure it's very small kibble I have tried different kinds and most are too large and I don't have the time to grind it up so thankfully my ds has taken it for his cats.
Another question does Clem act under the weather, I know you said he is eating like he is starving sometimes if an animal is sick the healthy ones will pick up on it and pick on them driving them out of the flock or herd depending on what species. So having Clem separate will also give you some time to really evaluate him.

 

[PADuckrunner]

I am using cat food for the ducks. The kibbles are very small. Another thing we did because we weren't sure was to wet it. I just went outside to check on them, and it appears that either Daisy or Pippy did eat some. I also gave some to Clem. Keeping them separate is easier for me to evaluate Clem. The one thing I am noticing about him is that he is allowing me to pet him without putting up a fight. For the past week I mentioned to the family that he isn't huffing. Clem is notorious for huffing. And, yesterday when we brought him in for a bath, it sounded like he had a little wheezing in his nose. I am worried that he may be sick as you mentioned. I don't know what is going on here, but this past summer we have had a lot of dead birds in our yard. And, about 4 of our chickens died for unknown reasons. Another thing I notice is not one chicken is laying an egg. We heat our coops in the winter, and last winter the weather never stopped them from laying. Summer is a different story, they usually slow down in the heat. One of my leghorns died a couple weeks ago for no apparent reason. I thought maybe Clem became depressed over his death, because they were very close friends. I am not sure if that is true, but that is about when Clem started to change.

I just hope nothing happens to my little Clemmy boy. I will definitely keep you updated as time goes on. Thanks so much for your friendly support.

 

[Going Quackers]

what is their diet? cannot say i have ever had this either... i run a pretty heavy amount of drakes too... your last post of dead birds around concerns me. While ducks are quite hardy, there are some things that are capable of going between chickens and ducks..

does he appear to have something upper respiratory? discharge from the nares? he is no longer making a typical 'scovie hiss?

 

[PADuckrunner]

what is their diet? cannot say i have ever had this either... i run a pretty heavy amount of drakes too... your last post of dead birds around concerns me. While ducks are quite hardy, there are some things that are capable of going between chickens and ducks..

does he appear to have something upper respiratory? discharge from the nares? he is no longer making a typical 'scovie hiss?

Let me run outside and get these answers for you. BRB. No, he is not making his typical scovie hiss, that's something I always look forward to each day, and that hasn't happened for about a week now. Ok, let me go check on him once more, and get the name of the food we use.

 

[Going Quackers]

I don't like that he is not hissing does he seem congested? um, any hoarseness of his voice? like he's trying to hiss but cannot?? gagging?

 

[PADuckrunner]

The name of the food is called "Dumor Poultry Layer Crumble" and I mix "Producers Pride Scratch" with grains and corn in it. I've used these two mixes since they stopped eating baby poultry food. I checked Clem and did not see any drainage in his "nares" (I had no idea that's what they are called ) I was able to force a huff/hiss out of him (this is the first time I heard this in close to 2 weeks now) by putting my fingers around his neck. He has always hated me doing that. I usually pet him by starting around his neck, and going down into his back, and that causes excitement out of him. I did that to see if I could hear any congestion in his lungs, or nares, but I didn't hear anything. I did notice how nice his feathers look since we gave him a bath yesterday. When I went out earlier to change water and give fresh food to all the chickens and ducks, I always change out their straw/hay. That was about 3 hours ago, and while I was just out there, I didn't notice any duck poop from him. Isn't that strange?

You mentioned how concerned you were about the dead birds in my yard...Some things can get between ducks and chickens, do you know what that could be?

I do have one more concern. My daughters' friend gave her 4 bails of straw from fall decorations, they had been out in the weather until last week. When I just went out there to check on Clem, I noticed a musty/moldy smell, can that harm them? If so, I do have a little pine bedding I could switch out, but not enough to last the rest of this week.