Where do your ducks sleep?

Last week, I agreed to take a single Black East Indies Duck that was no longer wanted by it's owner. It is about 3 1/2 mo old and I believe a female - it quacks. If we decide to keep it, we will get it a buddy duck since I know it is lonely for duck company. We are keeping it in an 8 x 10 ft secure run with a kiddie pool and there is an attached 4 x 4 ft coop (this setup is used for our young chicks as their grow out area).

So the 1st night, I put her in the coop. The 2nd night I just left her out and I believe she slept all night in the pool. She was in it when I checked in the morning and looked a bit dazed to me. She perked up later in the day. So, I have been putting her in the coop every night since then. Last night I decided to wait until it was good and dark to see if she would go in, but she was in the pool so I grabbed her and put her in the coop.

So, is it OK for them to sleep where they want as long as it's safe or do they need to be in a coop? If so, how in the heck do you teach them to use it? As far as I know, the previous owner didn't pay much attention to the duck so I think it was on it's own.

Ahhhh, chickens seem so much easier - they go into their house with no coaxing. It could be Craig's list for the little Ducky.

Thanks for any info and suggestions.

Ducks do usually need to be trained to go in at night, you've been doing a good job with it so far. It usually took mine about a week to get the picture.

I would worry about her being in the pool all night - can she always get out of it by herself? I have a Mallard that sometimes gets stuck in the pool and I have to go and get her out of it.

When I first got our ducks, I had to lock them in a dog house at night to protect them but now that I have the kennel with a top, they don't use the houses any more, they sleep in the pool, on the ground, on top of the houses, where ever they decide. When I had them in the first set up, I would yell "night night ducks" and they would come running to go into the dog (duck) house. It took about a week to get them trained. We do the same thing with the kennel - I put out fresh food and water and yell night night and they go right in.

stay with it - they are worth the work and will come around!

Ummm, haven't tried the "night night" call, but I like it. And yes, she can get in and out on her own, I placed a concrete flat rock in the pool and I've even seen her get out without using it too. Ok, patience.

My ducks will put themselves into their house in the evening, then run out when I come to close the door. It's just a little game we play. They run back out, I raise my arms to shoulder level and say, "in the house! in the house!" and they trot back in and wait for me to shut the door.

Feed peas or other tasty treat in the house a few times (nothing sloppy). We had peas in the house the first night out.

My runner drakes want to sleep in the pool too, but I don't trust it. I am afraid something could dig under the pen in the night and get them. I built a ground level coop for my ducks and it has two doors one on each end. If mine are in the pool I use my arm to kinda shoo them out of the pool. (like above their heads 3 feet in the air and behind them a little. It works well for me. I don't pick mine up because they seem to hate it. Then I close one end of the coop and herd them with my arms (like if you were trying to herd chickens into a coop or something) into the other door. Then I count bills and close the last door. I hope this helps some. Good luck!

PS now most nights my ducks are already in their coop at night.

For a while, the ducks went into the chicken coop to sleep in the corner. I thought that was great! Then they decided they didn't want to go to bed that early, so I left the A-Frame coop bottom open for them to go into at night. They did that for a while.

Now they roam the property, on "patrol" at night. They're Cayugas, so they're definitely "stealth" ducks, impossible to see at night. For a while they visited my land-lady and settled down at her sliding glass door whilst she watched TV at night, and would gabble quietly until she turned off her TV. Then they shut right up.

Now they still patrol my yard at night, but spend most of their time close to the house, sometimes going into the run in the back yard, sometimes settling down in a taller swatch of grass in the front yard. Lately, when I first get up in the morning and go out to do morning poultry duties, I have found Thelma in a cat litter box I set up as a nest box on the back porch, and Louie asleep on the porch next to it. He wakes right up and runs to me, telling me about their activities during the night. At least I think that's what he tells me!

He's such a good boy!

Here is a pic of my duck coop.



And I have to include one of my babies!

Quote:
How often do you change the hay/straw in the coop?