Do my ducks like me?

[duckduckgoose13]

Hello! I just had a general question, so I got two female Pekin ducks and I have hand raised them since they were a day old. Within the first day they had already imprinted on me and always had to be with me, even just following me to the bathroom they had to stand on my feet while I was on the toilet. I’ve had them for a couple months now and they are outside in their own pen and I let them out a few times a day for “play time” where they can run free range. (We have coyotes and hawks and tons of predators so unfortunately I can’t let them free range unless I am watching them) But even when I let them out they still follow me around and can’t be more than a couple feet from me without freaking out. Also, when I sit down with them they are always nibbling on me, not biting, it’s more of a tickle and when my boyfriend or someone else comes they shake their head and charge at them and try to bite them. Is it possible for my ducks to only like me and no one else?

 

[sourland]

Yep, you are their Mom.

 

[duckduckgoose13]

Yep, you are their Mom.

Will they always think of me as their mom or will they eventually grow out of it? From what I read online, it says eventually they grow out of it but I don’t want them to lol

 

[LT71689]

Mine imprinted on me, tolerated my husband, and werent at all interested in/were actively afraid of others. They were very needy for my attention when they were in their tote box in the beginning I think because they couldnt see anything else happening so when I left the room I'd "disappeared", once I moved them to a chickenwire-walled pen in the dining room and then started letting them out onto the floor during the day where they'd just lay under the table they calmed down a lot and were more content to just watch me walk about instead of follow ontop my feet. They'd even tolerate me going upstairs without them as long as they could chew on my husband's legs and feet (he's been working from home at the dining table since quarantine) When it came time to pen them back up at night though it was a whole routine of me having to sit with them until they found something else to be interested in and I could sneak away, and if we stayed up past that time they couldnt hear us talking to each other or they'd get jealous. I also couldnt leave them out in the pool for half a second without it being the end of the world that they couldnt see me.

They were big nibblers and could certainly get painful after a while, especially if they were concentrated on one spot (one of them was really determined to eat my tattoo off) but it was never an intentionally hard BITE for either of us, not like an attack. One of them would charge my husband when we were all on the couch and I'm not sure why - if she was actually charging HIM or if she just saw something on him she wanted to bite (once Im pretty sure she was chasing a reflection his glasses were casting on his shirt, and they loved to chew on buttons and zippers and any other little details) Neither of them ever charged me though so I'm not sure if she was feeling territorial around him or not.


As for whether it wears off - kinda. They go through a moody teenager phase where they might want to see you but dont want to be touched, if theyre a couple months old now they might be passed that though. the INTENSE dependency might wane but if they're being treated like pets they'll likely retain at least some of that fondness for you the way a pet dog would.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Mine are three and four years old and still love me. Not quite as much as when they were little but I still get little nibbles (I call them ducky kisses) when I visit them. They also always call to me when they see or hear me. If I sit by them, Kwackers, my oldest, will come sit by me. So don’t worry, they will always love you, especially if you bring treats.