Duck fail..need advice

[purslanegarden]

As the ducks get older or more familiar with their little corner of the world, they will explore more, and discover the ramp and what it leads to.

Since you do have them in an enclosed run, you might just have to catch them for a few nights and put them in the house. They will soon associate the house as a place they can go to...not necessarily that they will do that night unless they learn that behavior.

For my ducklings, the first few nights that they were free-roaming, I had to put them back into their cage. About 2 weeks later, they began going in on their own when I was out there to show them it's sleepy time! They still have not gone in on their own before I go outside to take them in, but this sure beats having to catch them!

 

[gilbert2]

I, too, was surprised to learn how petrified my ducks are of ANYTHING new. They had wood shavings as bedding for a year or so. When I started to use cut up straw, they wouldn't go near it for three days! Finally, they realized it was not vicious duck-killing quicksand, and now they've accepted it.

 

[Cody Pafford]

It's prolly just because they are new to the setup!

 

[Amiga]

How old are they? Try finding out what they like for treats, and put some treats in the shelter, then make a trail of treats up the ramp... the idea is to get them to associate fun food with going into the shelter. Also might there be anything in there that is weird looking? My ducks loathe almost any black object other than a swim pan.

 

[SAustin]

My ducks LOVE dried mealworms. You can get them any feed store as well as Home Depot with the wild bird food.

I just finished Duck Ramp 2.0 today and it's a hit. My first ramp was just wood with some sticks nailed down to serve as steps. But they'd slide in between the sticks and would then just jump off. They wouldn't go up it and I had to physically put them in the duck house. Hindsight we wouldn't have made it quite so high but anyway...Lol.. I had bought carpet strips from Home Depot to go on our outside patio steps (Only like $10 for a pack of 5) and so I cut them to fit between the slats on the new ramp. Gorilla wood glue keeps them in place. Made ALL the difference. My boys have no problem now!

 

[sarahee]

My daughter and I has to pick them up and guide them as they walked up the ramp the first couple nights. The next couple nights we herded them in. I have a broken broom handle I use as an extended reach to block them from running off. They soon started playing follow the leader and now go to bed with me pointing at the house. I recently built a larger house and moved them. We had to do the same thing all over again, but they learned much more quickly.