Can I lose my bond with my duck?

[SweetLilDuckies]

I bought four day old runner ducklings from a hatchery during the lockdown and raised them. A little while ago three of them were snatched by a predator. I brought the last duck(about seven weeks now) inside so that it wouldn't be alone and bought some more ducks a couple days after(a hen, and two drakes—the drakes were from different homes, also a brood of ducklings). Those ducks are all afraid of people, but have accepted my duck and are perfectly fine with him hanging around. However, when I go into the run to say hi to my duck, he runs with the other ones as if he's afraid of me. He usually will gladly leave the run and follow me around, but today he didn't want to. As soon as I have him away from the ducks he's back to normal, but with the ducks he's either torn between going with me or hanging out with them. When he had his siblings it was normal for him to run back to them if he followed me, but usually they would also follow me(if I could get them far enough from the water). Are the other ducks stealing my bond with him? Or training him to be afraid of me? I understand that it's important for him to have duck friends, but if that means losing my bond with him I would rather keep him separate from the new flock. Is there something I'm missing in the situation as a novice duck owner? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I had the same issue when I added two skittish ducks to my flock - my older ducks seemed suddenly afraid. Good news is, they only act like that with the others - they just want to be with their friends and follow the group. It's been two years since I added them, and I did not lose my bond with any of the original ducks.

I would work on taming the new ducks for now. I would try to handle them as little as possible, feed lots of treats by hand, and just hang out with them, and the whole flock will become more friendly.

 

[SweetLilDuckies]

I had the same issue when I added two skittish ducks to my flock - my older ducks seemed suddenly afraid. Good news is, they only act like that with the others - they just want to be with their friends and follow the group. It's been two years since I added them, and I did not lose my bond with any of the original ducks.

I would work on taming the new ducks for now. I would try to handle them as little as possible, feed lots of treats by hand, and just hang out with them, and the whole flock will become more friendly.

That's my plan, I was gonna spend a large portion of my day with them today but the weather didn't agree with me(it's been pouring on and off all day). But if the scared behavior from my duck is just temporary to get along with the others then that makes me feel better about keeping him with them.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Your duck is just following the others. If you work with the whole flock, including him, he will be able to spend time with you and the other ducks, so your bond with him should be okay. Don't separate him, he will get very lonely without other ducks to keep him company.

 

[SweetLilDuckies]

Your duck is just following the others. If you work with the whole flock, including him, he will be able to spend time with you and the other ducks, so your bond with him should be okay. Don't separate him, he will get very lonely without other ducks to keep him company.

Will do.

 

[CoriM]

Do you have a plan for your hen to drake ratio?

 

[SweetLilDuckies]

Do you have a plan for your hen to drake ratio?

Yes, I currently have the hen with her mate(they gave him to us for free cause they didn't want to break his heart)in one pen and then the other drake with my little drake. Once the ducklings mature to the point they can go out with the other ducks, depending on how many, I'll either have them together as one flock or have a separate drake flock and rotate the drakes and maybe sell some of the drake ducklings.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Ducks are flock animals they want to be with each other. It's nothing against you it's just their instinct.