Ducks & accepting shelter?

[HollowOfWisps]

For eggs I usually find half in the barn and half scattered through the gardens. When we built our old coop/run we kept the ducks locked in the area for 2 weeks (coop+run+small fenced yard) before allowing them into the large yard. I keep feed our 24/7 and always kept it inside the run with the door open. This helped them to associate that their provided food source was in one place. I also have a sheltie that I trained to herd the ducks on the occasion they didn't want to come in. When we moved we went from east coast weather to below zero. The day we moved in it was -10 degrees and my ducks hadn't seen anything below 15 degrees prior so they were kept locked on the barn for a good month. When I started to let them out and even now I always only put their feed just inside the barn so they associate it with food/shelter. When the last light starts to fade they all waddle inside the barn to their pens. On the rare occasion I have to go find them I bring my sheltie who herds them in for me.

 

[ruthhope]

My son's Pekins go into their coop almost always without herding and chivvying, although one of them did need that at first. They go in because they are fed in there, and I always give them some mealworms on top of their food. As they know the routine, I just appear in the back garden and they run over and stand making a lot of noise while I get their food into the jug I use to carry it to their coop. As I walk over to their coop , the ducks run ahead and go inside. I secure the door then open the lid and pour their food into their dish. I then clean out and refill their ater pots while they go into a frenzy round the food.

When I got my own ducks, I followed the same procedure. I feed them in the coop and within days the first three understood they needed to go inside to eat -- the mealworms are the big draw. Three weeks ago I got a new duck. She was in a dog crate in the coop for 2 nights -- she hated it -- and so I let her go in with the other ducks. Sometimes she went in sometimes she didn't and led me on a song and dance round the garden. However, when I came home late one night I found all the ducks including the new one in the coop. i think that the new duck had been staying up late at the previous home. So now I leave it until only a little before dusk to go out and feed them. All the ducks are in the coop and no more chasing round the garden.

Although I have seen it written that one cannot train ducks to go in a coop like one can train chickens, in my experience that is wrong. Our ducks are trained to go in!