Ducks that are afraid of the dark??

[melissamerry]

I'm quite sure mine are terrified of the dark! They're 6 weeks old and shriek like crazy once I turn off the light. Its cute and sad at the same time. I bought them a night light which is working just fine, but does this happen to anyone else???

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm quite sure mine are terrified of the dark! They're 6 weeks old and shriek like crazy once I turn off the light. Its cute and sad at the same time. I bought them a night light which is working just fine, but does this happen to anyone else???

I keep a night light in both my coops. makes me feel better.

 

[melissamerry]

Funny thing is I don't have a coop. Mine are inside ducks and sleep in my bedroom! Our backyard is not yet large enough for a coop. One day, for sure.

 

[HauiBali]

My flock goes inside the coop once the sun settles and they quack loudly to alert me: come and close the door! A few minutes and they find their place and they are sleeping ducks till the morning. I always "sing" kind of a "good-night-goooood-niiiight-birdiieeees" line when they go to their coop (sometimes I wonder what the neighbours think). So, after a few weeks now it is enough to "sing" that line of lullaby, and they stop their business and go to their coop immediately.

 

[melissamerry]

My flock goes inside the coop once the sun settles and they quack loudly to alert me: come and close the door! A few minutes and they find their place and they are sleeping ducks till the morning. I always "sing" kind of a "good-night-goooood-niiiight-birdiieeees" line when they go to their coop (sometimes I wonder what the neighbours think). So, after a few weeks now it is enough to "sing" that line of lullaby, and they stop their business and go to their coop immediately.

WOW! That's some well trained ducks. My little three race to the bathroom every morning for their bath! As soon as I pick them up out of their pen they zoom straight to the tub and start quacking. That's probably the only "trained" thing they do, but then again, I think they have me trained more than I do them!

 

[HauiBali]

Dear Melissa, congrats on your ducks, they are supercute And a warm

.

See, they love routine: so if you connect the routine situation, like morning bath, or daily treats, or time-to-sleep with a recognizable pattern (be it sound or a movement not used elsewhere) the ducks connect it back to the situation IF it fits the routine.

A little training can be very very useful: for instance, I raised the drake of my flock by hand from his day two, to teach him be friendly and smart. Not because I like drakes more or something, no, but for the fact that ducks (we bought a few 4+ weeks old later) will follow him, so it is enough if the drake can be called, not just he comes alone but all will after him. It was easy to "treat-train" him with pieces of iceberg-salad. No magic at all, he just connected the clamant "come-come, come-come" with treats, so all the flock runs to me if I wish - ok, I got to have a few snails in my pocket for them (that pennysize white snail that loves to climb on fences and straws) as I do not wish them to be disappointed at all.

Not just they learn but I learned from them too, duck-language and alerts: now I know how it sounds if they alert for a fox/dog (a short curly whistle that ends in a higher pitch but kind of soft-spoken from the start), the short and very loud "hi hello there!" onequack, and a lot lot more...

I wish I would be an ethologist sometimes to understand more, ducks are really really smart and fun animals.

 

[BubbleDucky]

I'm quite sure mine are terrified of the dark! They're 6 weeks old and shriek like crazy once I turn off the light. Its cute and sad at the same time. I bought them a night light which is working just fine, but does this happen to anyone else???

It's happening now with my 7 week old ducklings. I turned the light off by accident and they freaked out. I guess their will be a nightlight in their permanent outside duck house

 

[BelovedBirds]

It's happening now with my 7 week old ducklings. I turned the light off by accident and they freaked out. I guess their will be a nightlight in their permanent outside duck house

Were these raised under a heat lamp?
Just curious.
My girls never seemed unsettled by the dark. When they were babies, they'd cry after lights out, only because they couldn't see me anymore. So I'd sing to them and they'd feel reassured, then they'd go to sleep.
They were never scared of the dark itself