Automatic door opener

[start living]

This is what they do, when I want to lock them in for the night. There is feed and water in that pen. Any ideas how I can make them all go in there and not just half of them? I'm tired of collecting their eggs out of the pond...

 

[BornToQuack]

@start living That must be so frustrating! A few questions:

1) How long have you had your ducks? You mentioned that at least a few were previously owned, was that ALL of your ducks, or just some?

2) The ducks who were previously owned: do they usually go in and out of your house, or do they seem to avoid going in altogether?

3) Did the previous owner use an automatic door?

4) What time does the door open at night? Could it be a bit too early for them to decide it's bedtime?

5) When does the door open in the morning? Our three Indian Runner Ducks typically lay around 7 or 7:30 AM, so we usually don't let them out until 7:30 or 7:45. I know that might seem late, but so far we've only had one egg laid outside of their house, and that was around 8:15 AM!

 

[start living]

1+2) I have them all since several months. But I used to put them in a polytunnel at night using feed, which wasn't a problem. Then I built the pen one month ago, to better protect them from predators. They always stormed into the polyhouse to their feed, now they do this weird stuff in front of the pen.
3) No, but they were going to their pen on their own without feed and then were locked in.
4) I do it manually at sunset.
5) At sunrise.

The original plan was to provide feed and water in the pen at all times and use the automatic door. However, now I'm pretty sure that won't work. Now I just want them to go in at sunset when I feed them in there, so I can lock them in. But even that doesn't work now. I don't understand what's so different to the polyhouse for them...

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Firstly, I have way fewer ducks than you, so I don't know how well my experience applies but maybe this helps. When I used my automatic door opener, they went in without food and water most of the time (they do just fine without both, but if they have food available, they NEED water too). When one or two were too late, the door would close without them. Then they would walk around the house trying to figure out how to get to their flock. I let it get dark, then went out, rounded them up, picked them up by hand, lectured them about their errant ways, then tossed them through the door (gently) one at a time. They didn't like this much and decided that they should go in on time. On a couple of occasions the door would close a bit early (cloudy day or something) and I'd find a bunch outside. Then I would open the door for them and let them in without the drama.

Here is a video I made a while back while they were using the automatic door:

The door had a "last call" feature that I enabled. It would close the door, wait 5 minutes, open the door for 1 minute, then close it for the night. The ducks knew when it was about time to go in and they would get some extra water before going in. Then when the door closed the first time, they got ready to go in. They did this on their own most of the time. (I would of course check up on them within a couple minutes of "bed time".)

 

[start living]

My ducks behave very differently, they really don't like to be in their pen. So now, I just let them sleep in the pond, the pen is always open for feed and they lay their eggs right next to the pond and also drink from the pond. That's way easier and they should be safe from predators on the water.

 

[casportpony]

Any ideas how I can make them all go in there and not just half of them?

Is there any light I there? If not, maybe hang a light?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Many predators will gladly swim for duck dinner.

 

[start living]

Is there any light I there? If not, maybe hang a light?

Yes, didn't change their mind.

Many predators will gladly swim for duck dinner.

Like what?