fiesty drakes

[KandBinMN]

I have Mallards from 1/2 yr. to 7, and they are fighting like crazy at this time of year. Could it be because the youngest female is choosing her mate? It took so long to get them past mating season this year and now here we go. I haven't had lights on at night or anything, so what's up? This is usually the time of year when I can let everyone free range by day with no fights and it's so peaceful.

[Evy]

Originally Posted by KandBinMN

I have Mallards from 1/2 yr. to 7, and they are fighting like crazy at this time of year. Could it be because the youngest female is choosing her mate? It took so long to get them past mating season this year and now here we go. I haven't had lights on at night or anything, so what's up? This is usually the time of year when I can let everyone free range by day with no fights and it's so peaceful.

Mallards are ''active'' year round, just more so in the spring. If your drake to duck ratio is more than 1 to 3-4, you'll have squabbles & abused ducks.

[KandBinMN]

Yes, I do have a ratio that is off due to a couple of female deaths this past summer. The only other time I had trouble other than mating season though, was when I used a heat lamp in Jan. and kicked in spring thoughts because of it. I've never seen this in fall before. Everything had settled down and they were all getting along just fine, and bam, Nov. comes and they start fighting. In spring I have to pen differently and just deal with it if I want to keep my old drakes around due to them being pets for so long. In winter it's nice though to not have so many separate pens. Maybe things will settle down again when it's too cold to be naughty, ha ha. It's sleeting here as I type this, yuk.