Please Help - Can't Get Ducks In

[fatedfaithfulfatal]

I'm not sure what happened but in the course of a single day my ducks have decided that not only am I an axe murderer, but their house must be a slaughterhouse.

Yesterday morning, I let my ducks out and gave them their breakfast. They seemed completely normal. Not scared of me at that point. I went out at another point to give them some fresh greens and did not notice anything odd. Brought them dinner, they came out of the pond to eat. An hour later when I went to put them to bed, it just wasn't happening. The previous night there were no issues whatsoever. I've been working with them and they were at the point of going inside voluntarily with only verbal commands. I used to have to lure them with peas, but now they go in first and then get the peas. But last night, they wouldn't even come out of the pond. Not even when I put the peas down on the ground. I tried using a broom to gently corral them, but they were SOOO scared. jumping against the fencing to the point I was worried they might hurt themselves. So then I tried grabbing one while they were cornered. I got the one I knew was always the best being handled, and was able to get him without much trouble. He didn't struggle. I brought him over and put him in the duck house hoping the others would go follow him in. They all ran back to the pond, and after a minute he came back out and joined them. So I went back inside for a while, hoping that once it got fully dark, they would go in. No luck. So I tried again talking to them, the usual verbal commands for bedtime. I went to the edge of the pond and showed them peas in my open hand, nothing. Tossed the peas on the edge of the pond and stepped back, nothing. NOTHING. They wouldn't even come up to the edge to eat peas! So I put a light on inside their house hoping still they might decide it was too dark and scary to be outside, but when I came back later, they were still in the pond. It was midnight, I was exhausted. I gave up and resigned to the fact I may wake up to a massacre.

I live in the mountains with many predators and there's a raccoon that does visit frequently. Their nighttime house is predator proof, but I still have to bury the fence around the run to prevent digging in, and even then, its 1inch so if the ducks decided to sleep against it, it still isn't safe. Their pond is only 6x8 and they drift when sleeping so even in the pond they're not reliably out of reach.

Anyways, luckily they all seem to be ok this morning, but when I brought them their breakfast this morning, I also brought greens. They still won't come to me. They were eating out of my hand just yesterday and now they're so utterly terrified of me they won't even come out of the water to get food I've tossed 10 feet away from me. They won't come out until I leave the run.

1) I don't understand why they are suddenly so scared of me and their house
2) Any tips to get them locked up safely tonight? Even if they hate me and don't ever want to eat from my hand or be held again, I still want them safe.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

They don't hate you, please don't fret about that. But ducks can be a real pain and that is Exactly how we lost our drake in January, and it wasn't even midnight, like 10:30. The drake was taken by a mink in the big pond, and the hens were still just hanging out on their own in the smaller pond.

I'm not sure I have any great suggestions. Since we lost Rhys, our hens stay with the chickens in a run all day. It seems a shame because we have the ponds for them right there, but it was always so hit and miss getting them to go in.

You may just need to keep working with the treats, or even use some additional tools to help remove them from the pond, like a net even. We have a several panel baby gate we would throw across the small pond and try to corral them to the edge that way, but it was not all that effective because it wasn't actually long enough. Even if it were, you would need two people to hold one end each and then sweep the birds to the edge, which may not even be feasible depending how big the pond is.

We would also use a baby gate to corral them around the entryway of the hut, and then it was easier to get them the rest of the way in. You may have to get creative, but I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you, before you have any losses. GL!

 

[sourland]

I would give no afternoon feed and provide the evening feed in their pen. Sounds like teenaged ducks exerting their independence. Feed is a great controller.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Something may have scared them, too, and they were afraid of coming out of the water. Keep at it, they don't hate you.

I go through this with my own flock. Sometimes, they will just not go to bed, when most other times it's a nice (if slow) procession to their coop. Yesterday was one of those nights, I had to keep chasing several of them. The cause? Domination tension between the drakes as well as between the females.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I would try herding them in. I use pool noodles to herd mine when they are difficult. Maybe you could string a couple together to get across the pond? You can also set up barriers to funnel them in (hay bails, fencing, etc.).
Like your peas I put chopped greens in their water dish at bedtime. They almost push me out of the way to come in and get it. Hope it is better for you tonight.

 

[fatedfaithfulfatal]

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't feed them again until tonight. They have a small area they can forage but it's certainly not enough to fill them so they should be pretty hungry by bedtime. I'm just scared trying to heard them because they get so worked up and running into and flapping against things I worry they will hurt themselves. Hopefully just withholding the feed will be enough.

 

[johnspillman]

I bought 2 ducklings in March & kept them in a dog kennel crate, taking them outside during nice weather & bringing them inside at night. As they grew,I began to let them roam freely & forage as I built an outdoor pen for them. The first few nights they stayed in the pen but they had tasted the freedom of the outdoors & stopped going inside the pen. Last month a predator got one of the ducks & the other was absolutely heartbroken. I bought 2 more babies & the survivor had a new purpose in adopting them. Sadly, 2 weeks later we lost her too. God must have wanted them to be together again. I now take the babies to their pen every morning & they love it with their pool. They sleep on a towel every night, so i clean it & set it in the crate where they can get to it at the end of the day whenever they are ready to back inside. This is working out great right now & I'm afraid to ever let these out into the dangers of the wild world outside of the pen.

 

[fatedfaithfulfatal]

Thank you everyone. Withholding food until bedtime got them in last night without any fuss!

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[johnspillman]

These are my month (?) old ducks & what they looked like 3 weeks ago, going from yellow to turning brown like cornbread cooking then suddenly becoming gray. Their chests / bellies are black & gold like the female rouens.