Free range ducks?

[Crazy Mama]

I just recently acquired two 8 week old Cayuga/black swedish mix ducks. I'm already in love! I currently have them in my chickens run with a kiddie pool since my chickens free range now. I put them in the coop at night inside a pen so my rooster doesn't bother them. I was wondering, how well do ducks free range? Will they come back to the coop at night like chickens? I also have a creek on my property that isn't fenced acrossed, the rest of my acre is fenced. If the ducks swam in the creek will they swim down it and never come back or do they have pretty good instincts to stay around the coop?View attachment 1092545

My ducks love to free range with no problem of not coming back and I have 4 acres not fenced. As long as they know where they get fed. Mine are always back in the pen by 8 pm.

 

[Bteeg]

So I made a little run for them. I felt bad that they didn't have much room in the sheltered and closure connected to the coop. I'm still putting them inside the coop at night I just figured this would give them a little taste of going back inside the coop on their own when it's time to go to bed at night.

The first picture is just to show the little temporary fencing I did. They can go behind the coop too.
The second picture shows the setup. I ended up moving the pool farther away from the coop to encourage them to explore a little more, they're still pretty shy. The reason it's so muddy in the picture is from where I am feed the pool to move it.

 

[AtropineCaffein]

I have a yard with a 1.5 acre pond. Once my ducks found the pound, they wouldn't come back to the run. They are permanently free range now.

We have to keep them from the road with the "umbrella of doom" One drake did get run over.

We have had predation--raccoons at night and coyotes during the day .

Mostly they stay up close to the house.