Raising them as truly free how many hours would momma have them in the water?

[Flaca77]

thats awesome! im glad theyre enjoying their water, mine rarely leave the pool because they love it so much. usually the only thing that gets them out is food and mud

Why mud?I don't understand. How do I get them to stop freaking out when I pick them up to put them in their box at night and take them out?
As I stand here on my porch they are cleaning the remnants from yesterday and it's getting hotter by the second I know they are squealing blow this thing up and give us more water.
My chickens tolerated handling without all this crying and trying to get away but they also demanded to be let out (they had a pen inside my house) at 6 am.
Hold please, Emma is getting demanding and she's the leader.
Do these things easy constantly? Crap they've done ate the rake full of the circle floaty things, I don't wanna go get more... even after they grown kids still get 'pets' then Mom has pets.... Ugh

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

Uh baby ones and middle ones and only 1 big guy (his shell had to be the size of a dinner plate or bigger). Okay IDK normal turtles except the big guy who I haven't seen in a long time, I think I was told he was a bottle nose.
Lots of minnow sized fish, tea cup sized fish and 2 dinner plate fish. A snake or so (that I bash so they learn to not come back(learned that surveying wetlands) and some baby snakes that everyone has said were the constrictor type. That's just in the area we own of the pond. God I hope they help keep it clean. View attachment 3610692

could u send a photo of the turtles whenever you can? i had 5 turtles before, all different breeds. maybe i can help identify them

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

Why mud?I don't understand. How do I get them to stop freaking out when I pick them up to put them in their box at night and take them out?
As I stand here on my porch they are cleaning the remnants from yesterday and it's getting hotter by the second I know they are squealing blow this thing up and give us more water.
My chickens tolerated handling without all this crying and trying to get away but they also demanded to be let out (they had a pen inside my house) at 6 am.
Hold please, Emma is getting demanding and she's the leader.
Do these things easy constantly? Crap they've done ate the rake full of the circle floaty things, I don't wanna go get more... even after they grown kids still get 'pets' then Mom has pets.... Ugh

ducks are extremely skittish when around things since they’re natural prey. mine still get freaked out by people coming up to them but the more you are around them and hold them the less they freak out. do you put them in a bucket or bin to take them inside or do you carry them? you can train them to walk in by themselves. i did that with my pekins when they were still living on our porch, it took a little bit but you can probably do the same. me and my mom would herd them in and out starting with marshmallow, we would carry the boys in and then we’d let marshmallow out and would block areas that wasn’t in the direction of the porch door & her brothers quacking for her helped her find her way too. after a little while we were able to do all of them and it made everything so much easier

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

Why mud?I don't understand. How do I get them to stop freaking out when I pick them up to put them in their box at night and take them out?
As I stand here on my porch they are cleaning the remnants from yesterday and it's getting hotter by the second I know they are squealing blow this thing up and give us more water.
My chickens tolerated handling without all this crying and trying to get away but they also demanded to be let out (they had a pen inside my house) at 6 am.
Hold please, Emma is getting demanding and she's the leader.
Do these things easy constantly? Crap they've done ate the rake full of the circle floaty things, I don't wanna go get more... even after they grown kids still get 'pets' then Mom has pets.... Ugh

also do u have food out with them during the day? they could be quacking for food instead, or they could be quacking for you. mine always quack whenever they see me, we never let them go without anything they need so its not like they’re quacking for something (except treats) and they dont do it to anyone else not even my stepdad and they sleep under his chair once in a while. also idk if u have them or not but giving them mealworms whenever you handle them helps them trust u, they know that being picked up its safe & they’ll get something good from it

 

[Flaca77]

Snapping turtles are one of the wosre predators for waterfowl if they don't eat the ducklings they will bite off feet and drown adults. So before letting them out on the pond make sure you don't have snappers. And you'll have to set out traps more than once because they will travel over land to get to water.

Your duckling are adorable.

Uh...
Front and side yards are fenced, can snapping turtles get through chain link? All I've seen are baby turtles in our dock, granted if I am feeding the fish then medium turtles will come in from the middle of the pond. And here I was more worried about the snake(s). The ducklings won't be going in the pond until at least a year old. I swear I seen Emma eyeing it the other day upon bedtime. Then I became a meany (did the pole herding trick telling her I didn't think so lil missy. Don't you dare think about it and don't give the others any bad ideas.
Our neighbors have added 1 more in their lists of she's crazy. I talk to the pond inhabitants, the birds, and now I go around slapping my thigh peeping...
My daughter wants a goat, not sure those are allowed but as far as I'm concerned it's a medically needed goat. Our grass grows to fast and I'm allergic to it once it has seeds, which is every 3 days I swear.

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

Why mud?I don't understand. How do I get them to stop freaking out when I pick them up to put them in their box at night and take them out?
As I stand here on my porch they are cleaning the remnants from yesterday and it's getting hotter by the second I know they are squealing blow this thing up and give us more water.
My chickens tolerated handling without all this crying and trying to get away but they also demanded to be let out (they had a pen inside my house) at 6 am.
Hold please, Emma is getting demanding and she's the leader.
Do these things easy constantly? Crap they've done ate the rake full of the circle floaty things, I don't wanna go get more... even after they grown kids still get 'pets' then Mom has pets.... Ugh

also they love mud because whenever the ground gets wet worms come up to where they can reach them and the ducks eat them. u can spray them down with a hose if they get to messy because of the mud, my ducks let me do it sometimes and they love it

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

Uh...
Front and side yards are fenced, can snapping turtles get through chain link? All I've seen are baby turtles in our dock, granted if I am feeding the fish then medium turtles will come in from the middle of the pond. And here I was more worried about the snake(s). The ducklings won't be going in the pond until at least a year old. I swear I seen Emma eyeing it the other day upon bedtime. Then I became a meany (did the pole herding trick telling her I didn't think so lil missy. Don't you dare think about it and don't give the others any bad ideas.
Our neighbors have added 1 more in their lists of she's crazy. I talk to the pond inhabitants, the birds, and now I go around slapping my thigh peeping...
My daughter wants a goat, not sure those are allowed but as far as I'm concerned it's a medically needed goat. Our grass grows to fast and I'm allergic to it once it has seeds, which is every 3 days I swear.

i dont think fully grown snapping turtles can get through the fence, but im unsure how much harm medium sized turtles can do to ducks. i had a baby snapping turtle once and that little thing couldnt do anything to ducks, it was like the size of a quarter

 

[Flaca77]

ducks are extremely skittish when around things since they’re natural prey. mine still get freaked out by people coming up to them but the more you are around them and hold them the less they freak out. do you put them in a bucket or bin to take them inside or do you carry them? you can train them to walk in by themselves. i did that with my pekins when they were still living on our porch, it took a little bit but you can probably do the same. me and my mom would herd them in and out starting with marshmallow, we would carry the boys in and then we’d let marshmallow out and would block areas that wasn’t in the direction of the porch door & her brothers quacking for her helped her find her way too. after a little while we were able to do all of them and it made everything so much easier

They've came in on their own for about a week now.
The first night they didn't want to be put in the tote so I moved it walked IDK 15 feet away and slapped my thigh peeping. After playing in the mud Emma slowly followed me. I yelled for my daughter (only to come look but everyone opened the door and chaos ensued for a minute)
My chickens were spoiled and these guys will be too.

 

[Flaca77]

i dont think fully grown snapping turtles can get through the fence, but im unsure how much harm medium sized turtles can do to ducks. i had a baby snapping turtle once and that little thing couldnt do anything to ducks, it was like the size of a quarter

The medium ones won't fit and the fencing will be below water and above.

 

[9ducksinacardigan]

They've came in on their own for about a week now.
The first night they didn't want to be put in the tote so I moved it walked IDK 15 feet away and slapped my thigh peeping. After playing in the mud Emma slowly followed me. I yelled for my daughter (only to come look but everyone opened the door and chaos ensued for a minute)
My chickens were spoiled and these guys will be too.

haha have fun!! ive heard they have a lot of personality and are more friendlier than chickens are