Ducks WON’T swim in pond!! Help!!

[hannibalfarm6]

Hi everyone,

We got our 2 pekin ducks when they were one day old. When they were old enough we kept them with our chickens in their coop at night and kept them in our garage and outside in the backyard during the day, and have let both of them free range. Our garage opens in the front and back of the house. In the front of our house we have a natural pond, which we had knew all along would be their home. Now, we feel it’s time to move them down to the pond. They are now 2 months old, and their poop in the garage and the yard has become too much! We finally walked them down to the pond and they WILL NOT swim! They know how to swim, since they were ducklings we had them swimming, and now we have a little kiddie pool for them to swim in. Every day we have a routine of walking them down to the water, and they hang out and muck around in the mud, but then they walk back to the garage! We have been doing this for about 2 weeks, and no progress has been made. We even moved their pen down by the water, but now that the pen is down there they won’t go inside that either. We have tried everything. Throwing peas in the water, picking them up and putting them in the water (to which they immediately swim out), leaving them there to see if they would go in themselves, corralling them by the edge, and nothing. It’s necessary for them to go in also, because we have a hawk in our area, so they need to go in for protection as well. Did we wait too long to make the transition? Help!

 

[chickens really]

Scared and with time they will go into the water. Toss them both in at the same time..

 

[Miss Lydia]

At 2 months old that pond probably looks like the ocean to them. Plus the garage is their safe place where are they suppose to go for protection? They have no shelter? Being all white they are going to stick out like a sore thumb. What about snapping turtles. They prey on water fowl. Flying predators swimming predators will all be looking for an easy meal. I hope you’ll reconsider and maybe build them a secure house for nighttime sleeping. A lot of folks use old pallets there are many ways to keep ducks safe with out spending a fortune.

 

[J99]

I have ducks and they did that too wouldn’t go in their pool at all and if I put them in, they’d jump right out . My kids started bringing them in and putting them in our bathtub
After doing this maybe six times, I went out one day and saw them in their pool but when they heard me coming they ran out every time
Now they are comfortable with me and will swim every morning in front of me
Just time and patience

 

[littlemonstir]

I’m having the same problem! Mine are 6mths old and I moved them down to the pond a few months ago. At first they would play and splash on the shoreline and now they won’t go in at all! I can’t figure out why. The pond is stocked with large fish and turtles. Any suggestions? I’ve tried tossing them in and I even put decoys out thinking that would help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The pond is stocked with large fish and turtles and you can’t figure out why they won’t go in? what breed?

 

[littlemonstir]

Rouen and Cayuga. I’ve talked to a few marine biologist they said the fish and turtles shouldn’t effect the ducks and are more likely to hide when the ducks swim. I’ve asked around because my first thought was maybe they were nipping at their feet.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Large mouth bass will eat ducklings and from all I’ve read will bite on ducks feet. Snapping turtles will eat and also severely injure ducks. If you don’t believe me go to you tube and you can see some videos of s snapping turtle attacking an adult duck. We have seen on here what Snapping turtles can do to ducks.

 

[littlemonstir]

I don’t have snapping turtles, just red eared sliders and I’ve been trying to get rid of them. My ducks are bigger then a small dog so I find it hard to believe a fish would be able to eat them. As for ducklings they stay in a smaller safe enclosure away from the pond.
I bought this place because it had a pond for my ducks but they don’t like the pond.
The pond is about 1/4 of an acre and 7 feet deep in some areas. Does anyone have a good way or idea on removing what’s existing in the pond so I can start over?

 

[Ginmary]

Just a thought: what if you put the kiddie pool with some water in it into the pond so that it floats and then put the ducks into the kiddie pool.