[landolphe]

We have a wild flock of 40+ Muscovy ducks living on and around a large pond. Recently, one young female suddenly selected a young chick belonging to another female; grabbed it; and ran of with it, shaking it violently. She then ran to the pond and dragged the chick out to the middle and proceeded to shake, submerge, and drown it. The other ducks pursued her all the way but did not intervene. What is this behavior about? I've never seen this before.

[snowdrops]

I just nice stayed at a place that had a large pond with Ickes & came across a duckling that had a floppy head, it turned out it had a broken neck, not knowing this I kept it alive for over 24 hours. Eventually the owners of the pond told me the Ducks would kill the ducklings if the flock was becoming too large to survive within the current food source. Never found out if it was true but it makes sense