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Yes, they still have a tendency to bunch together in a way chickens absolutely do not. They've still got circular pressure zones, too. I don't have an issue with my flying ducks.

I would not recommend it. The risk of them being eaten is high. Automated pop doors are available if you don't want to put them in early but can't be there by dusk.

That'll do it. Not being the "bad guy" whilst interacting with them will go a long way towards currying favour with your birds. I do not put them to bed early now that they're free ranging. Waiting to feed them works to some extent, but I found I always had a few uninterested stragglers that had...

It's certainly possible. I used to put my entire flock in their coop midday when I had a schedule that required being gone at dusk. This was back when they were in a run, not free ranging. I have ~30 right now, and I definitely can't herd them all at once!

The differences in ducks and chickens are incredibly interesting. Like Zach said, ducks behave much more like cattle than chickens will. I think the disparity could be best summed up as pressure lines vs pressure circles. Ducks/cattle have circles; chickens have lines. If you unbalance that...

I wholeheartedly agree. Personal experience is good and helpful, but actual, professional studies and books would be quite interesting and certainly most helpful to those without the natural "knack" for it.

From my personal experience—and no other sources, I'm no chicken psychologist—I'd say that a great deal of the reactivity seen in otherwise tame birds is due to body language on the human's part. Chickens are scary good at picking up on subtle cues. No matter how much I try, if I need to catch a...