Ducks going in at night

[Crashlystarr]

i read that a good way to get your ducks to go in every night is to keep them locked in their house for the first week. Any thoughts?

 

[Muscovy-palooza]

i read that a good way to get your ducks to go in every night is to keep them locked in their house for the first week. Any thoughts?

I tried that with my muscovy hens. It worked for all of mine except 1. The 1 went bonkers being cooped up for a few days. When I let her out she took off and wouldn't come back to the coop. The second night she totally disappeared with all of her babies. She was claustrophobic I suppose. She was very sweet prior to becoming a momma.
Three other hens on on nests in the coop.
The three that I had to train once their ducklings hatched had sneaked under the house, inaccessible, and made there nests there. I was determined that I needed to train them to go into the coop. So 5 out of 7 isn't too bad.

Back to your question, my opinion is yes, keep them locked in to train them. I had to retrain our adult ducks from staying out at night by the pond to coming into the coop. It has been a miserable labor intensive task!​

 

[Crashlystarr]

I tried that with my muscovy hens. It worked for all of mine except 1. The 1 went bonkers being cooped up for a few days. When I let her out she took off and wouldn't come back to the coop. The second night she totally disappeared with all of her babies. She was claustrophobic I suppose. She was very sweet prior to becoming a momma.
Three other hens on on nests in the coop.
The three that I had to train once their ducklings hatched had sneaked under the house, inaccessible, and made there nests there. I was determined that I needed to train them to go into the coop. So 5 out of 7 isn't too bad.

Back to your question, my opinion is yes, keep them locked in to train them. I had to retrain our adult ducks from staying out at night by the pond to coming into the coop. It has been a miserable labor intensive task!​

What did you do about food/water? I have 2 call ducks about 4 weeks in a small house. I was thinking I would give them fresh food water 3 times a day and maybe a mealworm treat when I lock my chicks up at night. Just want to make sure I’m not starving them.

 

[thumper650]

I trained mine by chanting and clapping "night night ducks" placing them in the house at first and then herding them in. And quickly rewarding with frozen peas. My pekins go in on command, my runners aren't quite that sharp! It took months but they learned.

 

[Duck-Ducks mom]

Once it started getting dark I’ll call my ducks and say it’s bed time let’s go. That was ever since they were younger, then I got one that was older and she followed the other one so she caught on quickly

 

[Muscovy-palooza]

What did you do about food/water? I have 2 call ducks about 4 weeks in a small house. I was thinking I would give them fresh food water 3 times a day and maybe a mealworm treat when I lock my chicks up at night. Just want to make sure I’m not starving them.

Our coop is pretty big and we dont have a pen around it so we keep food and water feeders inside 24/7. A YouTube channel that I follow trained her chickens by putting food and water locked in with her chickens in their chicken tractor for a few days before moving it to the run outside the coop.

 

[bhaugh]

I train mine on Mealworms and only feed at night. Once it starts getting dark they come to the fence for treats and know the routine for going to the duck house.

 

[Muscovy-palooza]

View attachment 1791420
Our coop is pretty big and we dont have a pen around it so we keep food and water feeders inside 24/7. A YouTube channel that I follow trained her chickens by putting food and water locked in with her chickens in their chicken tractor for a few days before moving it to the run outside the coop.

The pic shows three hens with their hatchlings in pet crates. I did this to seperate the clutches so no one got picked on. It was hard but I succeeded, for the most part. The two hens with ducklings seem to lose a few of their babies. I went into the coop this afternoon and found that 4 ducklings from one hen and 3 from the other had gotten left behind in the coop. They had food and water so I just left them in there. They were calm and both clutches were cuddling and getting along. The real trouble comes when moms go in the coop but the babies dont follow her up the ramp. Those boogers can be hard to catch with no pen enclosure! I recently built a new wider ramp, with sides, that works!Now if the babies will cooperate and stay single file all will be great.

 

[Muscovy-palooza]

I train mine on Mealworms and only feed at night. Once it starts getting dark they come to the fence for treats and know the routine for going to the duck house.

What time do you put your to bed?

 

[ScottE]

It only took us about three days to get em trained to fo in at night. I have a duck tractor that I move every day but the principle is the same.

I only feed them at night, the first night it took me and my wife both with sti ks about 30 mins chasing them around to get them in in the house. The second night took both of us about 10 mins.

The 3rd night I did it myself in about 5 mins. Now every night they tell me when its bed time and get mad if I am late to open their house for them.