I have a pet male muscovy that we rescued when he was a badly injured few week old duckling. He is a wonderful pet, and well loved—he is now about 8 months old. He spends some of his time inside the house and some outside. As we just happened upon this little guy, and were never intending to raise a flock, he has been the only duck since we got him (though we also have a dog, cats, and rabbits.) Until just recently, his behavior has been pretty excellent, with a few minor incidents with our dog. Over the past month or so, however, he has been becoming increasingly aggressive. He has bitten me hard a few times recently, which he very rarely did before, and he has attacked our dog and started a fight with him twice in the past two days. They have always lived together, but now I have had to separate them when we are not home, I am so afraid that he will be killed by the dog if he keeps this up when I’m not there to stop him.
I’ve started to think that he needs a companion, and that the aggression may be connected to sexual maturity. And here is where I am in desperate need of some advice. We really do not want a whole bunch of ducks (two or three would be perfect), so my concern with getting him a female companion is, well, a whole bunch of ducks resulting. But, if we get him a male, will they not simply fight all the time (it seems clear that he is a pretty aggressive/dominant male)? If we got another species, like a goose, would they ever bond, since the goose would be so much larger than him? I have heard of mule ducks like mullards, but don’t really know where to find these (every search I’ve done turns up a lot of stuff about fois gras production, which just makes me sad!). Finally, is it too late to introduce him to a fowl friends since he has been only with humans, a dog, and cats his whole life? I am not certain that he knows that he is a duck, and have often felt that he thinks that he is a dog. It has crossed my mind that he may think that he is trying to mate with our dog in these recent fights.
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve started to think that he needs a companion, and that the aggression may be connected to sexual maturity. And here is where I am in desperate need of some advice. We really do not want a whole bunch of ducks (two or three would be perfect), so my concern with getting him a female companion is, well, a whole bunch of ducks resulting. But, if we get him a male, will they not simply fight all the time (it seems clear that he is a pretty aggressive/dominant male)? If we got another species, like a goose, would they ever bond, since the goose would be so much larger than him? I have heard of mule ducks like mullards, but don’t really know where to find these (every search I’ve done turns up a lot of stuff about fois gras production, which just makes me sad!). Finally, is it too late to introduce him to a fowl friends since he has been only with humans, a dog, and cats his whole life? I am not certain that he knows that he is a duck, and have often felt that he thinks that he is a dog. It has crossed my mind that he may think that he is trying to mate with our dog in these recent fights.
Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!