When it comes to maintaining duck populations research has shown that duckling survival plays an important role in maintaining the population of ducks.
Ducklings will eventually grow to become fully grown ducks and then reproduce to create new ducklings, and the cycle will continue.
But what if a mother duck kills her ducklings? And why does this happen? Here are some possible reasons why mother ducks do this.
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Mother Duck Kills Duckling:
Mothers in the animal kingdom are known to be fiercely protective of their young attacking anything that threatens their babies, but sometimes mother ducklings kill their young. Here are reasons why this happens:
Stress:
A duck that is stressed can exhibit very odd symptoms. Stress can occur when there is a significant change in the bird’s environment or when there is a lack of something in its environment.
For example, a lack of appropriate housing or a lack of food can cause your duck to become stressed. As a result of the stress, a mother duck can kill her ducklings.
A mother duck can comfortably raise her young if she has access to all the resources that she needs, if she doesn’t, havoc may ensue.
What to do:
Keep your mother duck’s stress levels at a minimum by providing appropriate housing and enough food before and after the duckling’s hatch.
If there was a change in your mother duck’s environment then you’d need to undo the change to keep her stress levels low.
The ducklings weren’t hers
Sometimes a mother duck will kill orphan ducklings. Mother ducks don’t commonly tolerate stray ducklings especially if these stray ducklings are close to her brood. Mother ducks do this because they see orphan ducklings as an obstacle or threat.
If you release a baby duckling near a mother duck, or near a mother duck and her ducklings, then expect the worst.
What to do:
Keep this from happening by making sure that mother ducks don’t come into contact with orphaned baby ducklings.
If the mother duck does attack a duckling, but doesn’t kill it, then you’d need to take the injured duckling to the vet as quickly as you can.
Will a mother duck abandon her duckling if a human touches it?
Some say that smelling the scent of humans can cause a mother duck to abandon her ducklings. This myth is absolutely untrue, in fact, a duck’s sense of smell is its weakest trait.
The real problem is the disturbance of the ducklings, not the smell of humans on the duckling. The mother may attack the human but will always take her babies back.
The rule of thumb when finding ducks without their mother is to leave them alone. Their mother is likely nearby and waiting for you to leave.
Will male ducks kill baby ducks?
The majority of male ducks usually invest almost no energy in rearing offspring. Male ducks even don’t play an important role in brooding care. A mother duck has to work really hard to keep her brood safe while her ducklings are growing.
Baby ducks are frequently preyed upon by large fish, turtles, raccoons, snakes, and hawks, and they can be killed by male ducks as well.
A male duck will kill a baby duck if he feels threatened by the baby duck, if they are provoked, or simply because the adult males are aggressive
Ducklings can quickly be killed by adult male ducks. Adult male ducks can kill the baby duck by violently shaking the baby bird or by drowning the baby bird.
If you see aggressive or negative behavior coming from your adult male duck to your baby duck then you should keep the male duck away from the duckling and from other ducklings.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Is Duck Poop Good For Grass?, How To Train A Duck To Walk On A Leash, Duckling Not Eating Or Drinking, Ducklings Dying Suddenly