chicksandchickens
Chirping
Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help. We are new to duck keeping and although we have tried to read and learn a lot prior to having ducks, it seems it wasn’t enough. I would have never dreamed the duck imprinting could become such a problem! We have hatched 5 runner ducklings in early May (now exactly 5 months old). Sadly, the male to female ratio was the most unfortunate one 4:1 and so last month we gave 2 largest drakes away. The ratio is still not optimal, but the female is very strong and obviously “the Chief” in the flock, able to stop any unwelcome advances, manages to keep food and pool to herself if she fancies a little time of her own.. and with the two smaller drakes being a bit “incompetent” in the mating department anyway, for now, we thought we could be ok even with an unusual ratio of 2:1. The problem seems to be with imprinting. We have two children that love the ducks dearly. They have been there for them from the moment they have hatched and spent with them hours and hours every single day. That was, because they could.. there was a covid lockdown and then summer holidays. We would have the ducks out of their run for at least 6 hours every day either “gardening” with ducks or having them sitting under our swing seat while we were reading. It was cute to watch them following us everywhere, being willing to be lifted and petted. Already over the summer we have started noticing some problems, such as, that we could not leave them out of the garden foraging on their own. They would get very upset if we disappeared even briefly… they would keep roaming senseless around the concrete patio, pooping on our shoes that were left out, “knocking” on the door with their bills. Someone would always have to come out to stay with them. They would never “utilize” their time of being out of their run by foraging when they were left on their own. With September, we all got busy with school and work. We still try to take them out of run 2-3 times a day, but cannot afford to spend so much time in the garden with them anymore. The ducks live in a spacious coop with a large protected run, little paddling pool, grass, trees within it.. a nice setting. But they keep crying out now and then from their run, pacing along the fencing calling on us. When we let them out, spend a few moments with them and leave them in the garden free, they will again just come to “knock” and cry at the door. In addition to that, one of the drakes has become extremely aggressive to us. He keeps chasing us, literally walking in between our legs looking for an opportunity to pinch. We can’t bend down to pick something from the ground or clean their bowls without getting pinched and hurt. We find it difficult to walk as to not step on him. The strangest thing of all is that the drake in question is the one that used to be badly bullied by one of the larger drakes we had given away. It was injured, stressed and nearly starved as the big bully kept preventing him from feeding or resting with them. Once we got rid of the larger drakes, we had nursed this smaller injured like a baby. He was ever so sweet and timid until one day 2-3 weeks later, when he himself turned into a bully towards us (luckily not to the other ducks). It has become very unpleasant to spent time in the garden because of him. I read this is one of the problems of imprinting too. How can we stop this dependency and aggression?
In spring we were hoping to hatch chickens. I dread we could end up with a similar situation with even more poultry!
In spring we were hoping to hatch chickens. I dread we could end up with a similar situation with even more poultry!
