Help please!! Duckling won’t stop plucking siblings feathers!!

[rachelsduckquestions]

Hi! I have been using these forums for help with my Muscovy ducklings but I made an account just to post this because I need HELP.

Long story short I can’t get one duckling to stop plucking the others feathers (I have 4 total, about 4 weeks old now). I tried separating him for a while, giving extra niacin, and giving extra protein and nothing has worked so far. He’s been separated for 2.5 days I think, I’ve tried reintroducing him twice and he immediately starts plucking again and the siblings start screaming and crying. I don’t want to keep him alone but he’s really hurting them. Idk what else to do to make him stop. Idk what to do at all. Please help


Full story: I have 4 ducklings, about 4 weeks old as of today. Last week I woke up to find them all a little bloody and missing some feathers. I figured it was because they were getting very big and maybe just too close together. It took me a day to get their coop ready, and during that time it didn’t look like any more plucking took place. Then right when I went to pick them all up and take them to their coop, there was fresh blood again. I figured it would stop when they had a ton of space in their coop, but the next day I saw fresh blood yet again on the same poor sibling. It was too much, too many feathers missing, so I had to remove the problem duck. I fed him a scrambled egg, I provided dandelions and fresh grass, extra mealworm treats for extra protein too, and I made sure he had a lot of niacin vitamin water. Basically I made sure I tackled all the possible deficiencies. Today I tried to reintroduce him and he’s totally relentless with plucking the feathers but he’s obviously extremely sad alone and cries when I take him away from his siblings. I feel so bad keeping him alone but my other ducks are finally healing and he’s ripping away at them. I don’t know what else to do. Please please help.

Also another point is that the other ducks aren’t really doing it at all so I’m not sure why one single duck is doing it LIKE CRAZY when the others don’t at all.

 

[Knighstar679]

In Story’ Guide it is discribed as a type of canabilism. He says it can be triggered by several things, and that Muscovy and Mallards are most likely to acquire this problem.

He says to first check, temperature, lighting, and space of the duckling. If the temperature is to high it can trigger the problem. He also says to much intense light can cause it. As well as unbalanced diet and lack of green feed. It also could be a need for more excerise.

Are you still using a heat lamp? If so the intensity of the light might be triggering it. Maybe try just putting him with one sibling outside on a nice day to pick at the grass and play in some water. I would continue the other things your doing right now. Not all defecancies are fixed quickly if it is bad enough.

I hope that helped. Someone else with Muscovy experience might chime in with better info but hopefully this gives you a new set of things to think about.

Edit- you might also think about trying a bit of cat food. Because two other things that can cause it can be not enough meat based vitamins and minerals and sodium. Basic cat kibble would have both.

 

[The Dapper Duck]

I had this with my first Muscovies. All siblings and one of the six was a drake. He would be sitting with them in the shade just loafing and out of nowhere he would grab a primary pin feather and just hang on until the duckling victim would pull hard enough that it came out. No amount of food or protein supplement fixed it. I eventually gave him to some friends who had chickens. Later I took him back and swapped for a rooster because he was trying to mate their hens and my yard rooster was mating my Muscovies. Anyway, once they were feathered out and nearing maturity he lost interest in pulling feathers. He was happy with the chicken hens and never pulled their feathers, but they were already adults and much swifter than he.

My advice is to separate them until everyone is feathered and then try to integrate them. Maybe just keep him in a compartment adjacent to the others so they can see each other and he won't be lonely but he can't pull their feathers out.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@Miss Lydia will know!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha but I don’t I have never had any Muscovy duckling do this maybe because mama has them out side right off I don’t know for sure but I’d take @The Dapper Duck advise.

 

[MallardMomx2]

This exact situation happened with me this year..turned out the babies were all drakes which of course does not work. One of my drake babies took most of the damage, poor guy. Unfortunately, they know it before we do Hoping this isn’t the case with your babies!

 

[rachelsduckquestions]

This exact situation happened with me this year..turned out the babies were all drakes which of course does not work. One of my drake babies took most of the damage, poor guy. Unfortunately, they know it before we do Hoping this isn’t the case with your babies!

What did you do while that was happening? I also am suspicious that that could be the case. I’m fairly certain the aggressor is a drake but the other three are fine together. I still have the one separated but he does get lonely and I don’t want that to be damaging for him.

 

[rachelsduckquestions]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I have gone through the process of elimination with every single problem now lol. I’m just trying to keep him separate and continue with what I’m doing, then try to reintroduce him once every 24/48 hours I guess? I’m just scared that keeping him alone could be a problem for him. I figured if it doesn’t improve within a week I should attempt to rehome.

 

[The Dapper Duck]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I have gone through the process of elimination with every single problem now lol. I’m just trying to keep him separate and continue with what I’m doing, then try to reintroduce him once every 24/48 hours I guess? I’m just scared that keeping him alone could be a problem for him. I figured if it doesn’t improve within a week I should attempt to rehome.

I wouldn't worry about him being alone causing problems, especially if it's a drake. My current hens are all from different groups from around my area, and they can be catty to each other, but everyone loves the big, doofy drake. Same happened with my first one. He came back, saw some ladies, and all was well in the world.

So I say keep him/it away for longer to give those other ducks more time to recover from the stress of the constant attacking. I personally am more concerned for them than for the bully's feelings.

 

[MallardMomx2]

What did you do while that was happening? I also am suspicious that that could be the case. I’m fairly certain the aggressor is a drake but the other three are fine together. I still have the one separated but he does get lonely and I don’t want that to be damaging for him.

It’s definitely a tough situation. I separated mine immediately. Mine was the dad duck that started picking on one of the duckling drakes but once it was injured, all of the ducklings started picking on the injured one as well. I separated injured duckling into one cage, dad duck in another, and mom duck and other ducklings in another. I immediately rehomed the non injured drake ducklings. My injured duckling is now alone in a coop on the mend (I’m hatching him some ladies this month.)
Just watch them. Sit down for a while and you’ll be able to see who is doing the picking and rehome as soon as you can. If you don’t want to rehome, I would keep him in a seperate cage and eventually get him some ladies. It’s such a tough situation. If you have any questions anytime you can message me! Thinking of you and your little ones