Do human imprinted ducks ever stop crying when I leave?

[jaykayhuff]

We haven’t been going to her at all when she quacks... so I have no idea why she still carries on all day. Her friend is perfectly happy and chases flies and eats grass all day. I’m not sure how to tell if they’ve bonded, my duck will still follow any human around even if it means leaving the other duck outside. The other one will cry for her but my duck only cries for us. They do sleep next to each other but I think it’s because the other duck is more ‘normal’ and will follow mine around. Another duck or two isn’t possible for us as we only have a small residential property and other pets. My mum and I think it’s time for her to go to a bigger property where she can be forced a little bit to be away from us and bond with other ducks and be part of a flock. It might not help that she can still see us inside our house all day.

Mine will always run to me or the dog and ditch the ducks ha I think that’s pretty normal for imprinting on a human. I did read somewhere that when hormones kick in and they start mating they aren’t as fixated on their human moms. I don’t know how accurate that is but I will say the hormonal change was around the time my drake calmed down.

 

[nolamimi504]

I have had a single duck I found as an egg for 12 weeks now and due to a bunch of circumstances (having to temporarily surrender her to WIRES because they thought she was a native, 2 different coop shipments being cancelled/delayed/sent to the wrong address/parts missing) we have only just got her a female friend to live outside with in their coop. However as she was raised with me and my family she is very much imprinted on us and quacks loudly at 6:30 every morning and every time we go back inside. We live in a small suburban area with neighbours overlooking our garden and are very worried the sound is annoying them (it even annoys us a lot) or worse, we are worried they’ll just kill them.
My question is will my duck ever grow out of being so reliant on us and bond more with the new duck or are they like that forever? I love her so much but if it’s not going to improve quickly I’m worried we might have to adopt her out along with the other duck. They have plenty of food and water and outside swimming time. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I had this problem but with 4 orphaned ducklings, each a different breed. When they transitioned from inside to outside, it was difficult at first. I didn’t ever want to leave them without being home. It took a lot for my husband to get me to leave them alone and turns out they were fine. We would make sure they’re pool had clean water and I would chop up some romaine and toss it in the pool with some cut up watermelon and they didn’t even care they door was closed, it’s open all day. We give our ducks treats like romaine lettuce (they LOVE), bananas, watermelon, peas, corn, green beans...they also get their duck pellets but the treats help them bond and keeps them occupied all day if we’re gone. I’m a proud helicopter duck mom, I make it a point, regardless of where we are or what’s going on, have to be home before dusk to make sure they’re into their houses and have fresh food and water.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Thank you!! Would you suggest keeping them in the coop mostly (it’s been storming and very hot here in Australia) to get them used to it or bringing them outside as much as possible? But when we do take them out my duck cries unless I stay outside

Sadly i don't know much about Australia - basically only what i've seen in TV - and you don't say where in Australia you're located, so from my experiences with ducks and severe weather:

• Thunderstorms: As long as they are not too severe, my ducks love them. They use those like a warm shower, don't mind thunder and lightning, only hail scares them.
• Rain(storms): see Thunderstorms, except when it is that really cold rain in winter, just above freezing, they hat that. Usually they all sit under the roof of the house and sleep the day away.
• Eggcessive Heat: Temperatures over 30°C are a nightmare for my ducks! Imagine it is so hot and you are being forced to wear your down winter jacket… The need plenty of water bowls spreaded around their area, so that they can cool down. Replacing the water in their kiddie-pool with fresh cold water is the highlight of the day! Bazilla Duck collapsed after one particular hot day last fall and had heat cramps. She recovered after being sat in a bowl with cold water and a handful of meal worms, but it was scary!
• Windstorms: My ducks hate those, especially when there is a lot of dust in the air, like in dust-storms. In general high winds scare them and dust clogs their nostrils. We had a freak downdraft last summer and all kinds of debris was blown around and the Duckies all sat in the corner between the house and the patio, heads under their wings, waiting for mother nature to calm down.

Every other weather condition they are fine with - i don't think you have extremely cold temperatures anywhere in Australia?
To answer your question: Yes, keep them as much outside as possible if that is safe, predator wise. Over night i would herd them into their house and lock them up. Night times are dangerous for ducks, they don't see very well in darkness and usually the really dangerous critters come out at night. (Again Australia, i don't even know what critters you have where you are).
Another reason to lock them up over night is that they will lay their eggs in the house where you can find them. Even if you won't eat duck-eggs (which would be a pity!), you don't want to have (broken) eggs laying around everywhere. Those will attract pests and predators.

For the crying, it will subside, just be patient and occupy their minds with something. Try hanging a salad or a cabbage from a tree-branch so that they can nibble it away. I heart some ducks here love that… My spoiled Duckies just glare at that and wait for their humon servant to cut that thing into bill size pieces they then devour.
I would definitely not lock up the ducks during they day, unless there's a good reason.

 

[jaykayhuff]

So a similar situation happened to me. I only had one successful duckling hatch from incubation and had him by himself for 3 months before new ones hatched but it was around 5 months before they started free ranging together. He didn’t want anything to do with the other four and honestly still doesn’t after being with them since October. But I will tell you he does get along better with them now and doesn’t freak out when I leave him. Now he is the first to greet me and always gives me sweet ankle kisses before I lock them up for the night. I would advise trying to stick with a routine and like someone else mentioned, don’t run out every time she freaks.

I don’t know if adding another duck or two to the flock would help... any others have an opinion on that???
Is she bonding at all with the new duck??

 

[saschoey]

So a similar situation happened to me. I only had one successful duckling hatch from incubation and had him by himself for 3 months before new ones hatched but it was around 5 months before they started free ranging together. He didn’t want anything to do with the other four and honestly still doesn’t after being with them since October. But I will tell you he does get along better with them now and doesn’t freak out when I leave him. Now he is the first to greet me and always gives me sweet ankle kisses before I lock them up for the night. I would advise trying to stick with a routine and like someone else mentioned, don’t run out every time she freaks.

I don’t know if adding another duck or two to the flock would help... any others have an opinion on that???
Is she bonding at all with the new duck??

We haven’t been going to her at all when she quacks... so I have no idea why she still carries on all day. Her friend is perfectly happy and chases flies and eats grass all day. I’m not sure how to tell if they’ve bonded, my duck will still follow any human around even if it means leaving the other duck outside. The other one will cry for her but my duck only cries for us. They do sleep next to each other but I think it’s because the other duck is more ‘normal’ and will follow mine around. Another duck or two isn’t possible for us as we only have a small residential property and other pets. My mum and I think it’s time for her to go to a bigger property where she can be forced a little bit to be away from us and bond with other ducks and be part of a flock. It might not help that she can still see us inside our house all day.