Do ducks stay in the yard?

[WickedChicksNH]

The main reasons my ducks are not free range is I am worried they will wander off

They have a big pen they are in but i would like them to be able to forage more

I live on a half acre. My neighbors absolutely don't mind them in their yards but its the road i am worried about.. It don't live on a busy main road but for some reason people think 25 mph means 50

There was a few times i let them out they wouldn't go far from their coop and would alwss go back to it like every 15 min
Few times I found them in the overgrowth between their pen and the neighbors yard which would of been ok but they were a little panicked becaise they were trying their hardest to get back into their pen. Through the fence

They stayed right up against the fence until of course I went help them then it was a game if tag

My oldest chicken is always like yeah this road is mine I'm gonna go visit some others i would have to lock her up if I decided to walk the store ir something cuz she starts to follow me

And that is why she stays in tbe pen now with the rest

So do ducks have the tendency to stay near?

Thanks

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Mine are free range but they spend most of their time on the front porch pecking the door wanting in

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Perosnally I think ducks are worse then chickens.I live in rural and maybe that is why my chicks s don’t stay anywhere but where the grass is cut low,only time I catch them in the woods is in fall/winter/beginnings of spring when the weed are dead and they can see their surroundings,it’s almost as if they know to stay in the yard,very rarely will any of my chickens be caught in the rode.

My ducks however,escpecially when my flock was huge,would always be in the rode,in the abandoned field and somehow they found muni pond years ago,no idea how,it isn’t even in plane sight!Wondeing if ducks can smell large bodies of water?They follow my creek and end up places they shouldn’t be,usually on my property just way deep into the woods,mind you I have twelve acres,and never get killed (other then snapping turtles in the pond).I have had an entire duck flock of about ten ducks walk out my yard,they went into the abandoned field that is never ending,and very woodland,it was Easter Sunday so we assumed all our ducks got stolen,lol.But hours later they showed back on our property,nobody knows where or how far they went but they’d or sure went far,they couldn’t even be heard.

 

[chickens really]

I only free range a couple hours a day. I watch them and herd them back when they wander off...

 

[arrowti]

My ducks will go everywhere, if allowed. Deep into the woods!!, down the driveway into the road... they do not 'stick around', but they always come back to eat drink, and return when it starts to get dark.

The big issue is predators and cars. People drive like nutcases here, and there's plenty of things that would like to eat duck.

 

[WickedChicksNH]

Thanks all
After i posted that I was like did I think ducks knew where their property line was and that the road was bad
Duh lol

 

[Susan12]

The ducks I have now never go nearth e road.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I think all ducks are different, mine could explore my whole acre (plus the fields around us) but so far they stay pretty near their run and me. But, they are only allowed out of their run when I am out there. So, if I thought they were going too far, I would just herd them back to where they need to be - my chickens would probably go much further as I have to keep an eye on their wandering.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I know mine would wander they can get so carried away foraging they haven't realized how far they have gone. Thankfully we don't live close to a road with traffic but we have woods all around us which harbor many preds. So mine are contained in half acre of fencing and can only be out when I am with them.

 

[WickedChicksNH]

Thanks all. They seem quite content in their pen. They have their pool large coop and a large run