inticing ducks to go to bed?

[chickadoodle]

Hi, I have 2 x runner ducks and 1x runner/campbell cross. They are 26 weeks old. I cannot get them into the duck house at night. Sometimes they go in of their own accord, but when I attempt to shut the door ,they all run out again.They are very flighty and hard to catch. It takes atleast 2 people to catch them and they get very distressed. I was going to leave them alone and let them wander in and out at leisure, however, my son saw the fox by their area at 6 this morning. Has anyone any ideas to help me? Thanks in advance.

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hiya

sorry have only just seen this post, I hope you have been ok with them?

Ducks are very habitual and need a routine when it comes to bedtime.

Do they have a favourite treat?

Try this:

Put them to bed every night just before dusk and keep that regular for them. Try and make it the same person each time and encourage them in with a treat.

It is likely that they have associated bed time with a stressful event, so you are now having problems... they are sensitive little things that dont forget easily! You need to get them to re learn that bedtime = good stuff Dont worry they will pick it up quite fast, usually within a week or so.

Be patient with them for the first few times. Train them with a specific bowl and start putting goodies in it during the day (try peas or tomatos) let them come to the bowl and investigate. After a while you can hold the bowl for them and let them eat from it, then start using the bowl to entice them in, putting it in the house with some treats in.

It will take a while but they will get into the routine eventually.

Also they HATE being herded with sticks, so dont try that... also any flapping or chasing will just make them even less motivated to go in, gentle hearding froma distance with slow raised arm movements like a wide hug should be ok along with the treats.

Let me know how you get on!!!

zo
x

 

[cardoon]

I have found this advice really useful, thankyou. We have always had problems trying to lock up, first, the geese and later the indian runners at night. In the end the geese had to go (into the pot, I'm afraid). We're now down to 8 ducks (see earlier post about size of duck families!) and I'm determined to prevent any more losses by locking them up at night. Our problem is the distance between the lake, where they hang out all day, and their house is about 200 m, plenty of room for distractions and wayward behaviour. But I'm going to try with the 'treat' thing, as suggested, plus hopefully lots of patience. Our group has three new males (swapped with our existing males) who are used to regular bedtimes, so I'm hoping that might help.

Thanks again.

 

[daniellesdogs]

i found if i point the touch at door of pen they run towards it then i chase the straglers

 

[shawnasue]

Thank you, for the idea about the goody bowl. Will have to try that to get the ducks back to the house from the stream.

 

[foxy]

We have runners, and if the weather is mild they would rather spend their time out playing in puddles and mud!
We feed them their corn and wheat late afternoon as apposed to the morning, so they come back to get their supper