We need advice on what to do with our crazy ducks! We currently have 4 (Mallard Drake, Female Golden 300, F Welsh and F Khaki). Our Golden 300, Lola, has just started to lay eggs, which is sweet, but it seems to have come with A LOT of noise. Is that normal? She seems to be really (for lack of a better word) pissy all the time, especially at night when they are all in the coop together. She gets the others all wound up as well and we end up with 4 loud ducks, which I'm sure our neighbors love. It's causing problems because she will do it at 1am, 3am, and 5am, is there any way we can change this behavior? I've read a little about 'broodiness' and that they may need to be separated from the rest of the flock for a bit, but she hates being away from the other 3 ducks. Does any one have any advice!? We are loosing our minds! we are also currently re-vamping our coop, making it larger, could limited space be an issue as well? I would really appreciate any help, we love our ducks very and don't want to get rid of them but we also don't want our neighbors to form an angry mob and storm our house. =]
Crowding can lead to extra grumpiness which in my experience leads to extra noise. It's a blessing that we are not close to neighbors, and that the winter coop is in the walkout basement. Anyway, we are also going through a season of frequent middle of the night loud grumpiness. And it is partly hormonal, partly the process of incorporating two new ducks into the flock. Oh, and partly spoiled duckies. They quiet down when I sit with them. Something that helps is separating the newer ducks or the louder ducks into a little side alcove that is right next to the rest of the ducks, where they can see each other and get right next to each other, but have poultry fence between them. You might try a plastic poultry fence divider and see if that helps them settle down. Sometimes a duck makes noise, it seems to me, when she's concerned that she is going to get harassed. If she's shielded from the others, she often calms down. Meanwhile, do what you can to develop good relationships with the neighbors. And try to recall a time that their kids or dogs or guests were pains in the neck and you were good natured about it. If you weren't, well, . . .
