Ducks not getting in coop at night

[smonkeySK]

I keep chickens and ducks together:
The chickens will take themselves to bed around dusk - though my cream legbars have only just started going to bed where they should after 10 months of being moved from on top of the coop to inside it!
With these chickens lives a duck - a lovely young khaki campbell who grew up with three chicks; they're inseparable and have been teaching the legbars where to live for the last week!
The rest of my ducks are a massive pain as they refuse to go to bed at night, despite having several places to call their own and getting an extra hour for bug hunting before bed.
I tried the feed at night only trick but my ducks can take or leave the food as they fill up free ranging all day.
It was also much easier before I gave them a pond!

 

[smonkeySK]

When all else fails redneck it!!!! Let's c if this will work for tonight

It's quite a tall ramp - my ducks would happily trundle up a chicken coop ramp that was thin and steep; every time I cleaned the coop the ducks would go for a nosey round inside of their own accord. (This is a ramp that was so awkward to use that the chickens avoided it like the plague!)
However if they are herded up a ramp of larger flatter proportions it must be done very carefully or they slip and fall.

What I would do is lean boards up either side of the ramp so it acts like a corral - something like the doors and ramp of a horsebox.
I had to use some when getting my ducks used to their new home - they don't need it now as the ramp is wide and nearly flat as I've built a three sided mound underneath it that gives easy access from most angles.

EDIT - My point (that I forgot to make!) was that a duck will happily traverse a dangerous and difficult obstacle if it WANTS to!
However if the reward for doing so isn't good enough they either won't be happy about it or won't do it at all!
In short the safer it appears from a ducky point of view, the more likely said ducky is to use something without incentive.

 

[Duck mama]

Sooooo.... we have adopted an entire flock of ducks, 14 in all (we had 16 but sadly 2 did not survive). My amazing husband saw my eyes light up when wild ducks would fly in to spend the day at our pond. So we did what I thought was a lot of research, but now I know it was not nearly enough! I have been fairly successful at training the ducks to leave the coop and walk into a small play yard which includes a baby pool, and some days they even make the return journey back...

 

[SouthernPride]

Timing is everything when it comes to my flock. When they come up from the pond in the late afternoon I put out fresh food and water in their pen. Once I have done that, ushering them into their coop is easy, they know which pen is theirs. But, if I do not get out there in time, it's a real hassle to get them in. I have 6 different "clicks", But that doesn't matter when they are not cooperating. I drink a beer and then go at it. Gotta have a little fun with it!

 

[Duck mama]

How old were your ducks when you started letting them out?

 

[lilfarmergirl]

My ducks where 6 weeks old

 

[nayeli]

I do what Zoe does and my ducks rarely go to bed "by themselves" either... they will if I'm really late getting out there but as soon as they see food they head for the coop!

 

[lilfarmergirl]

So proud of my feathered children all but one is now going n the coop by themselves!!!! Yeah!!!!!

 

[Duck mama]

Our ducks are now 5 weeks old, they started living in a rabbit pen, quickly followed by a baby pool, which lasted about 2 weeks before they found their way out. My husband in the meantime was building a wonderful duck coop which all of our friends call the duck condo. This week i went home to a newly built play yard for the ducks! He literally quadrupled their living space. Now i'm not sure they need to go to the pond until they are a little older. Our original desire for them was to fill our pond and be able to enjoy watching them. I didn't realize they were going to steal my heart away. Now I feel like an over protective mother that doesn't want her children " to play in the street". Two of the breeds seem very smart and even though they are much smaller in size, I have more confidence in them that they would know to run from predators, the Pekins however are like the proverbial blonde. They are very cute and full of personality, but some days just stand in the rain when everyone else, including me are running for cover. I would be SO heartbroken if something happened to them.

 

[lilfarmergirl]

This lasted 2 night now 0 go n I am tossing n the towel