skittish ducks

[LaceyLu96]

Hello, well, we purchased 2 ducklings, not sure of breed or gender. One was about 2 or 3 weeks old, the other was probably about a week old, we got them from a feed store, and when the man was trying to catch them, they were just devastatingly scared.
Ever since we got them in May, we've tried to work with them, and earn their trust a bit more, but it seems that the only time they like us is when we have meal worms, and they still won't come anywhere closer than 4 or 5 feet to us, and we just found out that the buff(one is a pekin, and the other is a buff) is a drake, and we're very seriously thinking now that they're both drakes, they sound, and act the exact same, and they're starting to get a little aggressive.
Last week, we purchased an Ancona female, and a Embden female goose. Right away when we put the ducks we already had and the goose/duck together we noticed that they(the original ducks) got even more skittish, and now it is to the point that all of them run when they even see us come outside, especially the goose.
Now, the goose and duck were both full grown, so we're not sure how they were treated at their previous home, but we know when we bought them, they were handled VERY roughly by their wings, and necks.
Is there ANYTHING we could do to possibly make them less scared of us?
I grew up with animals all my life, especially ducks, and geese, and have NEVER met any ducks that were this petrified of me, we also have never tried to catch the ducks/goose except once to cut their wings because one did get pretty far off the ground.
Thankyou

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I find it much harder to get ducks accustomed to me than chickens. I have literally sat for hours of my life trying to convince them I'm a friend haha

The best I can do with mine are to be quite around them and not move too fast. Once in a while they will eat meal worms out of my hand, but under no circumstance will they let me touch or handle them. They follow me at a distance, but just want to be left alone. They are almost 1 1/2 and I've come to realize they're nice to have around, but they just want to do what ducks do.

 

[LaceyLu96]

Well we used to be able to feed the 2 original ducks from a distance, and now they won't even eat anything, even meal worms, if we throw them on the ground by them or however, they will not eat them, not until we leave completely and are nowhere to be seen.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Hmm. I know this is time consuming, but could you pull a chair out and just sit a while? Let them see you sit, maybe even grab a book so they don't think you even notice them. Then throw some meal worms around and just wait to see if they creep up.

 

[LaceyLu96]

That's a great idea! Also, another question, we're having to relocate our Ancona(she's very aggressive and attacks the goose constantly), but since the other 2 drakes have no females but the goose, how many ducks would you reccomend getting for the drakes? we don't want them constantly fighting over one or two females, but they did not accept the Ancona, and the Goose just kinda weeds around anyway, and we want females, but are not sure how many are too much or too little.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I just have one pair of ducks, but recently I was looking into adding. What was recommended to me was around 3 females per male to prevent squabbles and over mating. Have you considered a mate for your goose?

 

[LaceyLu96]

That's what i was thinking, we're thinking on getting rid of the Pekin because he is such a hog, but 6(3 per drake) seems like a pretty good number.
and yes, we're actually going this weekend to find her a gander, she has no problems with the ducks whatsoever except the Ancona, but we're sure she'd enjoy a gander because she just walks around alone 24/7. As for the Ancona, we're not sure if we want her with any other ducks/geese, she's very aggressive towards them all, and bites and attacks when it is not necessary, and we were going to sell her(but everyone wanted to eat her), so since we're attached, we're going to move her and just see how she goes next time we try to put another duck with her.

 

[emmajane07]

Hi LucyLu---I have one female and one male. My male is using my girl too often. I also heard that 3-5 girls for 1 male. I am going to get 2 more girls and hope this helps having 3 females for the drake to choose from.

 

[LaceyLu96]

I've heard a drake will mate with 3-5 females,
do you guys have a place you put your ducks at night? we have ours free range right now, and they have a house, but it's open, and I'm sure sooner or later something is going to get one of them with winter coming up, and prey animals being scarce.

 

[emmajane07]

Mine get treated like the chickens. They are free range from 7am till dusk or dark. Then they all go in the same coop and I shut the door behind them. I live in a heavily wooded area though and have had my only two chickens killed already. So, I would definitely have a closed house for them. With that being said---nothing has bothered the ducks either time with the chicken mishaps. I think the ducks are louder and startle the predator. But, I could have just been lucky so far.