can you toilet train a duck?

i had a rabbit once that used to always poo in the same corner of its cage, and it would be so much better if the ducks did this too! is it possible?

No. Sorry.

Would be nice, eh?

a long time ago someone on these boards told me that ducks don't have control of their bowels. I took the comment at face value since no one said anything to the contrary. If this is true, how do broody ducks keep their poop in while sitting?

I can only assume that sitting physically prevents broody birds from pooping...

I recently learned you can sort of potty train parrots! If just keep giving them the command to poop until they do so and give them a treat. Eventually they'll learn to poop on command (if you do it at the same place they'll learn to poop there when commanded). The problem is they need to poop every 15 minutes and will do so where ever they are. So you can make them poop when you want but can't stop them from pooping when they want.

I'm tempted to try this on my ducklings when they arrive this week, but don't have much hopes. I've never heard of a duck that learned commands.

Quote:
They also aren't always sitting. They will stand up, rotate to a new position, and turn the eggs over.

Quote:
They also aren't always sitting. They will stand up, rotate to a new position, and turn the eggs over.

Plus IF sitting kept them from pooping then why are there mountain size piles of poop left where a duck sat and slept over night? Especially in cold weather when they don't like to move around.

Quote:
They also aren't always sitting. They will stand up, rotate to a new position, and turn the eggs over.

Plus IF sitting kept them from pooping then why are there mountain size piles of poop left where a duck sat and slept over night? Especially in cold weather when they don't like to move around.

Good point. My dogs loves the frozen ones.

the holding it in, might only be a broody duck thing? I'm not sure... all i know is, is that no matter what you try, you can't get a duck to poop where you want. lol. some ducks will poop in a corner it likes, while most will poop anywhere they feel like. I think they might be able to hold it for a short while but not for very long, which makes potty training almost impossible. Unless you spend every minute with a duck giving it the command to poop, it will most likely just go where ever it wants, lol.

Ducks are keen on taking orders, it's their nature. They are a flock animal. they don't really rely on the flock for anything other than safety in numbers. they feed, bathe, etc themselves from hatch. They don't have leader like pack animals do. They have a pecking order, but the duck on the lowest rung never tried to appeal to the duck on top. It simply just accepts it's place. (Dogs at the bottom of a pack will bring the leader food etc in attempts to get on good terms... which is why they are so easy to train if they see you as the pack leader).

I've only been able to train my ducks to do two "tricks". I've taught them to jump up off their feet in the air to catch peas. I hopld them over their heads and say "Jump!" and they usually will do it. I've also taught them to bow their heads when I said, "Wait". (lol, i actually tried to teach them to stand still and not maul me when i have peas, but all i did was teach them to bow their heads. although, if they are busy bowing their heads for the treat, they don't maul me as often... lol), Right now we are teaching Victor to wiggle his tail when you poke his feathers and say "Shake your Butt!" It works almost every time, but you have to poke his feathers to get him to do it.

I'm looking forward to Joe's (aka Duck_feeder) attempts at training his ducks to do different things. Mine are already over a year and 4 months old and won't bother with new tricks... lol they learned their most of their tricks when they were babies)