Duck screams when I leave her run?

[StuporMan]

I have two Pekin ducks in my run currently, they act pretty typically for ducks. Babble constantly, play around in water, forage, nibble on your feet or get scratches when they feel like it, try to avoid you if you walk towards them. One of my ducks though, a hen, makes a very loud honk when I leave the pen, and she'll continue to do so until I call back to her and walk where she can see me, she's never done this before recently and I know they have enough food because I make sure to include vegetables with their feed. Any thoughts?

 

[JessicaDotta]

That's interesting. I'm on my first year of ducks. The only time I've had a duck act that way was when they were alerting me to a predator or to a duck that had gotten locked out of the cage (it technically flew away and came back.)

I would venture your duck is trying to communicate something. Check her feet for injuries . . make sure her water is good. . . I would suspect something is up.

 

[StuporMan]

That's interesting. I'm on my first year of ducks. The only time I've had a duck act that way was when they were alerting me to a predator or to a duck that had gotten locked out of the cage (it technically flew away and came back.)

I would venture your duck is trying to communicate something. Check her feet for injuries . . make sure her water is good. . . I would suspect something is up.

Checked her feet, and everywhere else for any injuries, all good in that front. No impacted crop and they have plenty of water. Maybe she's wondering where I'm at? They only just recently got out into the run and for the first few days I spent most of the time outside with them to help make them more comfortable.

 

[CoriM]

If they're babies and the run is new to them they're probably missing you and ducks can definitely use their voices to get a response from their humans - mine do!

 

[StuporMan]

If they're babies and the run is new to them they're probably missing you and ducks can definitely use their voices to get a response from their humans - mine do!

Yeah, I just found it a little odd because she's been the one who avoids me most, but now she seems to want more attention, even letting me sratch her chest and chin!

 

[CoriM]

Sweet!

 

[LilyLoo]

I would definitely be on alert for any problems they are alerting you to. Breach in pen holes anywhere and so on. However I have a duck a hen whose 3 years old. And out of my 2 she is most unfriendly. She has anxiety about where I am. I have to allow her access to my areas or she screams. I extended their run all the way to my back door then built a ramp up onto a shelf so she could see inside our kitchen. She lays there and watches me when I cook or clean in there. Ridiculous lol! Once everything greens up and the bugs are plentiful she does get too busy to keep the tight leash on her human. About half if the time though I have found a sneaky cat or predator bird so always check.

 

[StuporMan]

I would definitely be on alert for any problems they are alerting you to. Breach in pen holes anywhere and so on. However I have a duck a hen whose 3 years old. And out of my 2 she is most unfriendly. She has anxiety about where I am. I have to allow her access to my areas or she screams. I extended their run all the way to my back door then built a ramp up onto a shelf so she could see inside our kitchen. She lays there and watches me when I cook or clean in there. Ridiculous lol! Once everything greens up and the bugs are plentiful she does get too busy to keep the tight leash on her human. About half if the time though I have found a sneaky cat or predator bird so always check.

Yeah, I've been inspecting the run daily, no issues there thankfully. She's making a sort of low trumpeting noise when I sit in the run now which makes me think it's mostly a "where have you been?!" Issue since she does it right before she runs to my foot to nibble it and press her chest against it. Also it's good to know I'm not the only one with a possessive duck hahaha, your birds sound very lovely

 

[rayrose]

Ducks imprint on you from day one. You're their
Mama no matter how old they get. When you're
not in sight, they feel abandoned.

 

[Percipen]

One of my older ducks did this for the first few weeks after they moved outside. It got to the point where I would have to sneak away without her seeing me. Then it stopped eventually. She could care less now