Duck bites: playful or aggressive?

[MolliMonster99]

Hi guys! I have previously posted about my lovely 6 runner ducks, who are now 4 months old!

We have been working on handling the ducks more as they have started to show more interest in us. The other day,my partner filled a dog bowl with some water for the ducks to drink from. He was splashing his fingers about in the water and the ducks seemed interested. However, one of our female ducks (Storm) ended up biting his arm and leaving a few bruises. So today I ended up doing the same thing out of curiosity. I filled up the bowl and started splashing about. The ducks loved digging about under my fingers, it was almost like a game! Storm was having a good time, until she started moving up my arm, where she bit me. It was a sudden pinch that left a bruise, but immediately afterwards I was laughing about it and stroking her, rubbing her front, etc and she didn't try to run off or anything. She stood next to me for quite a while and let me pet her!

The ducks also nibble our clothes all the time, and more recently my hair. They even try to munch on our fingers occasionally!

So my question is: was she showing her affection or was she mad that we were in her water?

 

[DukesDucks]

I would really discourage this nipping on you, your clothes and your hair. Might be cute now but as you have already found it, they can cause quite a bruise. They are only 4 months old now, so the biting will get harder as they get older. I also think you don't want Storm, or any of the others, to think they can dominate you. They bite ... you leave ... they win. I would stick with the patting. Many ducks don't like to be picked up. As soon as they show agressive behaviour, push them away and ignore them.
I have a large Muscovy drake who started the same way as yours. One day he chased me, and snapped at my leg leaving a large bruise. It took a few times on pinning him to the ground to re-establish that I am top duck.

 

[MolliMonster99]

I would really discourage this nipping on you, your clothes and your hair. Might be cute now but as you have already found it, they can cause quite a bruise. They are only 4 months old now, so the biting will get harder as they get older. I also think you don't want Storm, or any of the others, to think they can dominate you. They bite ... you leave ... they win. I would stick with the patting. Many ducks don't like to be picked up. As soon as they show agressive behaviour, push them away and ignore them.
I have a large Muscovy drake who started the same way as yours. One day he chased me, and snapped at my leg leaving a large bruise. It took a few times on pinning him to the ground to re-establish that I am top duck.

I didn't realize it was that much of an issue... I thought the nibbling was just a grooming thing at first. They always nibble my pockets and my trousers, they just started nibbling my hair but it doesn't hurt or anything. They don't seem aggressive at all, but apparently they are

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Nibbling is different than biting. I have my curious ducks who nibble and then my drake who bites. His is more of a mating/dominance issue. I just nip it in the bud. I also don't allow him too close if I'm going to be in the run for a bit working because usually he pinches me when im not paying enough attention.
Are you sure your duck is a female? I'm not saying they aren't aggressive, but even my female who bosses the other ducks around doesn't bite me - just my drake.

Sorry for the bold typing. I've tried turning it off, but the text isn't cooperating with my tablet.

 

[MolliMonster99]

Nibbling is different than biting. I have my curious ducks who nibble and then my drake who bites. His is more of a mating/dominance issue. I just nip it in the bud. I also don't allow him too close if I'm going to be in the run for a bit working because usually he pinches me when im not paying enough attention.
Are you sure your duck is a female? I'm not saying they aren't aggressive, but even my female who bosses the other ducks around doesn't bite me - just my drake.

Sorry for the bold typing. I've tried turning it off, but the text isn't cooperating with my tablet.

She 100% is a girl. She was the first to quack, she's been mounted on by my drakes loads. She hasn't started laying just yet, but we are positive that she is a girl. She sounds just like my other 2 girls.

 

[Quatie]

Gentle nibbling is fine, that can be grooming. But if they hurt you in any fashion it needs to be stopped. Females and drakes will bite to assert dominance. It may be more common with drakes but females will definitely do it to. Some of it is also done out of fear. That still does not mean you should allow it. There will be a time you need to treat a fearful duck. Not getting bit every few minutes makes it much easier to treat.

Ducks pull on feathers and pin other ducks down to assert dominance. I do this with my ducks. It doesn't make them hate you or fear you, they realize they have gone too far.

 

[SolarDuck]

I always have good luck with putting any biting duck into a rabbit cage for an hour. The second you get bit, pick up the duck and throw in a rabbit cage, its very important they are in there alone without any other ducks so they have time to think about what they did. It might take a few times before they correlate the biting with being all alone for an hour, but when they do they should stop. After the hour, if she comes out and bites you again put her directly back in for another hour.

 

[MolliMonster99]

Gentle nibbling is fine, that can be grooming. But if they hurt you in any fashion it needs to be stopped. Females and drakes will bite to assert dominance. It may be more common with drakes but females will definitely do it to. Some of it is also done out of fear. That still does not mean you should allow it. There will be a time you need to treat a fearful duck. Not getting bit every few minutes makes it much easier to treat.

Ducks pull on feathers and pin other ducks down to assert dominance. I do this with my ducks. It doesn't make them hate you or fear you, they realize they have gone too far.

Okay, thank you for the info! Looks like we will no longer be splashing about in their water bowl

 

[MolliMonster99]

I always have good luck with putting any biting duck into a rabbit cage for an hour. The second you get bit, pick up the duck and throw in a rabbit cage, its very important they are in there alone without any other ducks so they have time to think about what they did. It might take a few times before they correlate the biting with being all alone for an hour, but when they do they should stop. After the hour, if she comes out and bites you again put her directly back in for another hour.

I feel like it was because we put our hands in the water bowl while the ducks were drinking. It was stupid, I know, but my partner thought he was playing with them by doing so. I think that we need to respect that the water bowl is there for them to have a drink from, but if they ever start biting for no reason or anything like that then we know what to do in those instances.

 

[Isadora]

I see you've gotten good advice above, so I don't really have anything to add except to say playful or aggressive, does it matter? It's not behavior you should be encouraging. Similar to people who let their puppies nip them. It's cute at first because the puppy is small and the bites don't hurt that much, but if it's not rectified and encouraged, that dog ends up in a shelter or put down.