Do your ducks put themselves in at night POLL

[Nifty-Chicken]

We've only had ducks once... and only two of them that were raised with our chickens. They put themselves into the run at night and I'm wondering if we just got lucky, or if many others have this same experience.

If your ducks did or did not put themselves in at night, why do you think they did or didn't?

 

[houndit]

Ours do sometimes. It depends on the ducks. In the winter is about the only time they go in often. In the summer I end up chasing them off of ponds a lot.

 

[bemba]

My ducks (Calls) walk up three flights of stairs and around the corner of the top story of the house every evening, then its of to bed in thier very own double lock up garage, then in the morning they all start carrying on so I open the door, they all waddle out to the top of the stairs then all take off and fly to thier lake.... which is roughly the size of 50 football fields! When they take of they go 30 metres plus high....... sooo beautiful to watch. I started with 2 ducklings and they were heavily imprinted on me, so I used to walk them down the stairs to the lake for a swim, then walk them back up the stairs after. So since then all the other ducks have just copied the original 2.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Very interesting poll results, thanks everybody!

I'm wondering how much this all has to do with breed, individual personalities, how they were raised, climate, living conditions, etc. etc. etc.

For example, the runner and blue sweedish that put themselves up every night. Was it simply because they thought they were chickens and followed the rest of the flock, or was it because they just liked the place we had setup for them?

We're going to try to integrate our hatching scovies into our chicken flock like we did with our old ducks and hope we have the same success.

 

[houndit]

Quote:

Ducks are wonderful!!!!! Good choice. I think a lot does have to do with the way they are raised. I had a pet pair that were fairly old. They went in at night. The Muscovies are more interested in flying out to ponds all summer. Them and the Mallards are the worst because they like to fly out to the neighbors pond. Since you are in the city, you will be clipping your Muscovy wings and should not have that problem.

Muscovies are my favorite ducks! Good for you!

 

[chickenlittle32]

I have mallards and geese that stay out by the pond all night every night....

 

[goosedragon]

Yes and no. mine had to be at least headed in the right direction, Then I got two Muscovy drakes and all I had to say was "barn" and the two drakes worked like herd dogs and herded ducks and geese not only to the barn but to the respective stalls. Then the drakes would roost on the wall between the two stalls. Other than being smart and bossy I have no idea why they did it, but they seemed to like it.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I have pekins and silkie ducks, all of which do to bed by themselves at night. Sometimes the chickens will go in a little sooner than the ducks, but they do put themselves to bed

 

[Wifezilla]

For the first 6 months I had ducks, I had to herd them in to the pen. Lots of arm waving and sometimes I had to have hubby help me. Then we got rid of our old drake. The girls started putting themselves to bed when the temperature dropped. Then our new drake just started following the girls. Now HE makes them go to bed when it gets dark. Tweak is so awesome

 

[Parrotchick]

My 3 Pekins are like kids who don't want to go to bed at bedtime. They just want to play around, looking for late worms and getting "one last drink" from the kiddie pool umpteen times. But they'll go, giving a running commentary the whole time. But if I'm not around to point them in the right direction, they'll eventually go themselves. If for some reason they are shut out of their pen, they'll nestle as close to it as they can.

My Muscovies are early to bed. My drake Ivan was raised with chickens his own age and when they were young, they would all settle in together, the chicks snuggled up against their "big brother."