Duck agression?

[Henrybetta]

Hi all, I'm very new to ducks and I have a question... I recently got 3 female indian runner ducklings. They are in the neighborhood of 8 weeks old. I have a Silkie coop and pen that I put the duck house in and I put up a temporary partition to make sure my chickens were friendly with them... what has caught me off guard is that it's the ducks that seem very unfriendly? Everytime my chickens get near the partition they run and bite them through it. They pace back and forth along it, and it looks like very aggressive behaviour? I had planned to take it down this weekend but now I'm scared. There's a broody with a couple chicks so now I am worried they will hurt them. The fence is all bent from them sticking their heads over and through it all the time. Any thoughts?

 

[chickens really]

I have Ducks and Chickens and my Ducks hate the Chickens. I have separate pens and areas of my yard so they are never together.

 

[Henrybetta]

Oh my goodness, I just assumed because my chickens are so laid back it would be ok... I've never even heard of a female ducks being aggressive for no reason... I don't know anyone who keeps them seperate.

 

[chickens really]

I have Call Ducks and big breeds of chickens.
All my Ducks hate the Chickens and will chase and bite them..

 

[PirateGirl]

This is exactly the behavior that my drake and one duck hen exhibited towards my ducklings when they were set up with a partition until they grow larger. The drake actually grabbed a duckling by the neck and started to drag it. I was supervising and was able to intervene. When I have tried putting them together (no partition) the aggressive ducks bit the ducklings and I feel the situation would have been dangerous had it not been under my supervision and had I not separated them. I'm not sure how long you have had yours set up with a divider. I think mine is now at about 2 weeks (24 hours a day) and 95% of the time they now ignore each other and there is no more fence charging and trying to bite through the bars. Now that they ignore each other I'm thinking of trying to introduce them without the divider again. Long story short, do not take away the divider yet. It is not safe and your chicks could quickly and easily be killed. Hopefully over time they will start to ignore each other through the divider and then you can try to introduce them without it. This will give the littles more time to grow too. I do not, and will never, keep my ducks and chickens together, but I do intend to introduce the ducklings with the adult ducks now that there is no charging of the divider.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You could get the plastic poultry fencing at Lowes and put it up along with what you already have up that way the ducklings can't get their heads through it.

 

[PirateGirl]

I agree with @Miss Lydia on that. What I did was take another piece of the fencing I already had and then doubled the fencing layer so that the holes are staggered and now no heads fit through anywhere.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Great idea if you have some laying around!

 

[harmonymw]

I have Ducks and Chickens and my Ducks hate the Chickens. I have separate pens and areas of my yard so they are never together.

Really? My adult chickens are not very nice to ducklings and baby chicks but my drakes love the babies and are very kind to the chickens unless they’re picking on their favorite hens.

 

[harmonymw]

Are we allowed to use unsavory language here? I just realized I have no idea.