my ducks

[HottentotTeal]

Quote:
Sometimes making your animals friendlier towards people is not a good idea. Your ducks are so beautiful and so special. If it were me and this is just my 2 cents, I would leave it the way that it is. The bond that you have with your ducks is special and that is a unique relationship. Many people don't have that. Keep that as something special between you and your ducks. They live in an exquisite paradise where they are comfortable and at peace. The only thing that they may know is to panic because someone other than you has entered their paradise island. Enjoy that closeness that you have with them. Enjoy your babies. They are beautiful.

Great setup.

I also agree about not even bothering, especially if they are wild. My ducks are pretty untrusting of anyone. They will eat in front of me and even come up to me sometimes in the aviary, but generally they will always be ready to run away from me. I don't take it personally. They are just doing what comes natural to them in the wild.

As much as i would love to be able to pet them, they aren't dogs or cats and if i really wanted a duck i could more or less pet or touch, I would have got a domestic one of some kind.

 

[greekbioguy]

thank you for your messages and kind words . maybe that's the case with ducks i managed to make my pheasants super friendly (they eat of my hand and the hens allow me to touch their eggs while they incubate although they bite me when i put my hand under them) but maybe pheasants are more food orientated creatures and they forget their fears if the treat is worth it .they follow me around and run towards me i think that they see me as a large moving treat dispenser but they react in panic when other people go near them even people the see every day like my girlfriend or parents . ducks i think are smarter than other fowl and are really careful around anything new ( they will even avoid their vegetable bowl if i give them sth they never ate before ,it takes them a week to try new tastes)

i guess that is the point of having wild birds and that is their beauty. but i will continue to try to decrese the distanche they allow me to get near them without stresing them

 

[HottentotTeal]

My ducks are quite curious when i put something new in their cage or leave something in there.

When i clean out their pond, they will go check out buckets and cubs or if i have new food bowls, they go check it out.

I put in a cat litter tray/bin in there with pine straw and they dove in pretty quick.

They peck at my digital camera and knocked it over one time when i left it in there to record a video of them.


Unfortunately, they stay away from the little shed i made them. I have no idea why, though. They only go in there if i corner them on that side of the aviary.

 

[greekbioguy]

you have curious ducks and curiosity is a sign of intelligence. only smart creatures tend to be curious
.
i think that all wild birds don't like the idea of closed spaces (only when they go broody they seek dark secluded spots) . my pheasant aviary has many places where they can hide from the rain and cold and instead of using the cover they prefer to sleep on the high perches even when there is a storm of cold wind ,i guess they do not mint the elements of nature they are too weather hardy. its the same with my mandarins and wood ducks ,they actually enjoy the cold and the rain. they seem to suffer in the summer when it gets around 40 c at times and they spend their whole time in the ponds to cool off. maybe it does not get cold enough for birds like this in Greece (we do get -1 or maybe -3 c but this happens only at night and only for 3-4 days a year during the harder winters. pheasants and ducks can easily endure -10 c temperatures in nature