Ducks haven't been going in the coop at night

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julia1241

julia1241

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Jul 20, 2015
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Hi,
I had a dozen chickens, some that I raised as chicks and others that were given to me. I let them have free range around my 2 acre woody yard; however after a short time they would roam around across the street at the neighbors house who didn't mind them except that they were tearing up her lawn that she works very hard on. As I looked down the hill of my front lawn, I noticed that a third of our yard was all dirt from them. Shortly after getting the chickens I got some baby ducks. And a Peking. I intergrated them into the coop with the chickens and most of the time they were fine. So, after thinking it over we found a good home for the chickens. That was this past May, and since then the ducks have found the pond on the other side of our house a little bit out in the woods. Now, and since then they only come over to eat, more now because it's colder out. They have not used the coop since the chickens left. I did once get them into the fenced in area around their coop, but the 2 Muschovies just flew away, and the pekin just walked around quacking trying to get out. I know that there wings can be clipped, I don't know how because they flutter and their claws are so sharp. I don't want to use netting because I'd feel bad if they couldn't go to the pond. So there ya go.....its getting cold out and they're going to need shelter. I'm up in New Hampshire and it's cold already! Does anyone have any ideas? Thoughts?
 
Hi and welcome to BYC
welcome-byc.gif
. To keep the Muschovies from flying out you may need to clip one wing.
http://www.cornerstonefarm.net/wingdemo.html
http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/clipping-duck-and-goose-wings-to.html

It may be a two person job (one to hold the bird still and another to clip the wings). The Pekin cannot fly and does not need it's wings clipped. Then once they go into their pen at night you can shut the gate and usher them into the coop.

If you put food and water in the pen at night (before it gets dark) then they may likely go back to the pen every night. Keep a light in the pen area or coop may help them see to go in on their own once it gets dark.

Here's a video (from 50 ducks in a hot tub) showing the light in the duck pen

In this video you can see toward the end that the ducks sit outside the pen until it gets dark then they will go in on their own so the owner can lock them in. Having the light there will help with that.

"50 ducks in a hot tub" has hours upon hours of videos of his "hundreds" of ducks coming and going from the lake. He has Muschovies, Pekins, and Rouen ducks. None of the ducks wings are clipped.
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Free Spirit has given you some good advice and NorthFlChick has provided you with a good link to post on. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your ducks going into the coop at night.
 
Thank you everyone for such a nice welcome! Free Spirit I don't think my 15 yr old son and I would be able to catch them, and when we have tried in the past they would obviously fight us and claw us and get away, never mind clipping their wings forget it! Hahaha :). I appreciate very much your advice, I've been anxious for someone to respond. So usually I see them in the early morning or mid afternoon. At sun down I havent seen them. So hopefully when it starts to snow they'll come in.
 
Plus, I forgot to mention I downsized a lot and have 2 hens in the coop, and the ducks never had a problem in the past. So basically I keep the fence closed so I need to figure out how to get the ducks in, I could probably leave the fence door open for a little while because the chickens either stay in there all day or go in the coop earlier than the ducks.
 

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