Agressive pekin male behavior

[jynxster]

So my first two ducks came to me last Dec, they were 2 months old and siblings. they are inseperable. They were not pet like, one could get close but not pet them or pick them up, they were raised in a pen with many many ducks and chickens; they are Pekin Cuyaga mix.
About a month later somoen advertised to let a male pekin go as a pet. I adopted him; Frankie. He was hand raised, never been around any other animals of any kind. Could pick him up, pet him he loved it. So different than the first two I got. I love this duck. Well, after about a month, to my surprise, the two siblings sent out drake feathers, at that exact same time, I noticed a lot of fighting between all three boys. The siblings would gang up and fight the other one, Frankie. So obviously too many boys in the duck yard. frankie is about one year old. I let the other two go to a friends farmtwo days ago, because the longer the fighting went on teh more and more agressive Frankie has become towards me. Now he is there alone (I do have three pekins 4 weeks old in his visual range but fenced between them, I dont trust him right now.) Now when I go out in teh duck yard he comes charging me, his head dow, flaps his wings, and agressively tries to bite me; FORGET petting him or picking him up, that behavior is GONE. He is acting like a ticked off goose. Mean and agressive. So my friend says it is his hormones kicking in. I dont know what to think. I miss the beautiful little guy that loved being petted and held. What to do? WIll this pass? How do I deal with him now?

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

I got my first male duck as an adult. He was also this way and tented to try and bite me a lot. For me, he tended to do this only when I touched one of the girls. He did eventually stop, once he knew that this did not do anything. I would sit there forever until he left me alone, now he is still pertective of his girls, but does not attack me anymore.

 

[jynxster]

thanks for your reply BUT: re read my post please; doesnt sound like the same behavior at all. he was very friendly at first and there are No girls at all. And there is NO WAY one coulkd sit and let him peck tilll he was done. He is WAY to agressive for that, this nis not passive little bites, this is more like attacking.

 

[Lute]

Hi Jynx,

I will admit that I don't know much about ducks but as a pet in general, he sounds like he's grown aggressive because he feels he's been mistreated by the other two. So he's being an angsty teenager about it and taking the hurt out on you since you're the one that introduced him to his former friends. Psychologically speaking, that is.

Maybe he needs to have another, younger, duck be in the pen with him?

 

[mandelyn]

Spring is coming, it's normal for males to become jerks. Boys that are super tame are worse, they don't fear you at all. For this reason I didn't baby mine even though I hatched them, didn't want to fool with a mean one if there was going to be a jerk in the group. There is, his name is Earl. He stops about 3ft from me and shakes his head at me, sometimes going for my boot. I'll reach out and grab him if I can catch him. If I do get him caught quickly, I hold him. Since I've never held him much before, he stops, and gets as far away from me as he can when I release him. If he had been super tame, he would likely continue to try and "goose" me (when they grab and twist with their bill, the angrier they are, the harder they hold on with the bite) while I held him.

Don't try and be his friend right now. He should settle down later on after the season. Baby your girls, they won't do this. I have one hen who brings the rest of them to me. She'll nibble my boots and take food from my hand. Then Earl comes charging in.

There really isn't anything you can do besides throw food in another direction away from you (if he can even see through his hormones), stand your ground with him and wear thick sleeves while catching him and (gently but firmly) pushing him to the ground like he'd do to another drake. (if you pick him up he might go for your face) Or just stay out of his way until he's regained his sanity.

You're right about keeping the babies away from him, I wouldn't put them with him until they're fully feathered, or something like 3 months old or more.

Ducks don't normally make cuddly pets after they reach maturity. Sometimes they do, but more often than not they get mean during breeding season (boys).

I have a duck hen, she was raised alone. Used to climb into my lap, come running for pats. Sweet as a duck could be. Then she realized she was a duck after all, and now wants nothing to do with me unless I have food. I don't take it personally, she's a duck. The wildest hen is now the tamest hen. Go figure.

 

[Lute]

Right, spring. I forgot about that season.

I agree with Mandelyn, though.

 

[jynxster]

Thanks for the INTELLIGENT response, I needed to hear this. I love the duck......I think he hates me now. I cannot walk in the duck yard at all, he charges me, he flaps and squawks and has even tried to purposely fly up from a standing position into my face to attack me. Thank God he can't get very high off the ground. He's a little fat LOL. Well the 3 little ones I have were not sexed, I hope they are all girls but chances are not. So we can only wait and see. I will not let him alone with these little ones for 2 or 3 months. I also have a cotton patch gander going to move in soon. I know he is calm and I want things to stay that way, Have three toulouse geese 2 female 1 male on order to come fist week of April so. Boys willl be boys but the rule here is; Everyone must get along. thanks

 

[BarneyChick97]

Oh my word. I found your post by searching for "mean pekin drake". Umm...I have one that acts JUST LIKE THIS! We have one Rouen hen, and one Pekin drake. That's it. They are almost 1 year old, and the hen started laying eggs about a month ago. He's been acting like this since about November, right after we processed our 4 turkeys that they free ranged with. (I wonder if that added to my problem?) My fenced in portion of yard that they roam might be an acre (I have 1.5 total), so it's a very large yard. I had to put up a "BEWARE OF DOG" sign, that I pasted over the OG, to make the word DUCK! He will come at anyone when he hears the fence opening, or me opening the back door. He'll fly along the ground, run, have his head down and charge. He's nipped my feet and the back of my leg. I've even come close to stepping on him because he makes his way to my front while walking! It's like he's trying to face me. Also, if I bend over to do something, he's RIGHT there, looking up at me. I'm pretty certain he would bite at my face if I didn't always carry a stick with me. The hen could care less. She's always off eating bugs and grubs, and he is more concerned about anyone coming into the backyard. He's even chased my lab!! I think he's almost as nasty as a goose. We live in the PNW, and I don't think we've had THAT much sunlight yet? I'm really hoping he will change soon. We really enjoy our ducks, they are cute, and fun to watch, and they do a great job of controlling our slug population. However, I can't say he's making a good case to keep himself out of my roasting pan!! It's not too hard to eat a MEAN duck!!

 

[jynxster]

So you know what I mean about a mean duck. Well here is how Frankies story played out. I waited a couple weeks after the other two boys were gone and no change in behavior maybe even got worse so I posted a free agressive duck on craigs list. After all i dont eat duck but really wanted him to be happy.I had a guy less than a mile from my house respond. He witnessed the behavior and stated he would take Frankie and assure me he would be fine, not to eat or kill. I called the guy a couple days later. He tells me when he put frankie out in the yard he did the same thing to him as he did me, charging biting and so on. This guy said he would catch him, hold him tight wiht his bill held shut so he wouldnt bit him. He tells me he did this for about an hour and ahlf non stop. He would set him down, Frankie would bite, he'd pick him up and do the same thing till he calmed, then set him down, again, again, and again. The guy said eventually Frankie tied and walked away.

Later that day in the yard he also has large geese, Frankie tired to pick on the female goose, the male went after him and nipped his butt a couple times and now Im told Frankie is as sweet as he was before. He now knows his place in the yard. In the pecking order, he is no longer at the top of the list. They have a nice place with a pond and all. He sounds very happy. Im happy for him and very sad I had to let him go. Sound to me like you are the submissive one in your ducks eyes. The pecking order is a strong sense in birds of all kinds. I now have three pekins three chickens and one big gander, three more geese on order. Funny my chickens are the most personalble with me of any of my animals. I haave rhode island reds and Americanus. they love people and love to be held and petted, they run up and sit in my lap. Good luck.