how do you keep ducks entertained

[trees]

hi everyone,

not that my ducks seem bored but i always feel the chicks are easier to entertain-log pile, tree stumps, woodchip to scrat in...

what does anyone do to ensure their ducks dont get bored? they have a pool, a dug out bit of soil to sift through and the usual food/water and veg but just want to make their pen a bit more interesting!

thanks

trees

 

[duckyfromoz]

Very generally speaking- chickens are quite active- whereas ducks are happy to sleep half the day away while they arent foraging or swimming. One thing I do with mine that seems to be a good time waster is giving them a whole lettuce rather than pulling the leaves apart for them.

 

[HauiBali]

I think they are not bored, they are just layback by nature - when there is no action to involve, they are not bothered. Our ducks are very social, and they are very happy and entertained when one - or even better, more - of us is around. They come close, connect to our chat, and always showing that they are curious and open for any fun - which is usually some playtime with them.

"Hide-and-seek" is a good game: I hide somewhere (I am the one who is imprinted by them) and call them loudly - they walk around, look around, and when they found me they got some titbits.

"Iceball" is nice too: I make a ball (or a brick) of ice in a plastic bag, filled with some chopped veggies - when its frozen, I take it out from the plastic bag, and roll it into their pond. It swims on the water surface, and the ducks drift it around happily.

They very much enjoy the "Oyster Table". Despite it's snobbish (well, at least here in the middle of the great plain of Hungary it is snobbish) name, the table is a brick on the side of their pond, where I smash snails with a stone "to order".

When I'm weeding the garden, building something from wood, no matter how loud the powertools are, they keep coming, to see I'm safe, or.. maybe to check if I have something for them, or is it a game for ducks? They think about it. They talk it out with each other.

I scattered a few spadeful of river gravel in their pen, because when I was a little boy I loved to search in it for "treasures", like a rounded quartz, striped, or just for interesting colored little stones. Well, my ducks love treasure-hunting in it too, and they can eat the best size stones for grit.

And they find it just absolutley fascinating when my mother lies in a hammock between two plumtree, reading a book, and they can be very close, and then they organize their feathers, and they know that they have place in our family and they are loved. Also they have patience (all the time in the world) to wait for their playtime, and it is good to rest outside our garden in their own duckshade*, just looking at things while listening to what the birds sing.

(*the shade is an upside down V, made from an old clothes dryer covered with some bulrush"

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

frozen veggies in a freshly cleaned pool. fish in the pool, whole heads of lettuce, a sprinkler is always good fun. We leave the gate to the compost pile open sometimes so the ducks and chickens can dig around in it.

Otherwise they seek out the shady fence line areas and snooze.

 

[Ducks-love-me]

My ducks seem bored to! Can anyone help me find out how to post a question? I'm new to this site.

 

[Amiga]

My ducks seem bored to! Can anyone help me find out how to post a question? I'm new to this site.

Welcome! On the main Duck forum page, https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/42/ducks

there is the word Ducks in red letters. Under that is a blue button, Start a Thread. Click that and fill in the blanks.

 

[Ducks-love-me]

Thanks Amiga

 

[Daisy5381lindsay1]

My ducks are only 2 days old. The bigger one pecks on the smaller one a lot so i want to keep my curious george entertained. Are they too young for the head of lettuce idea? I feel like my little one was choking last night on the back chick feed mixed with water.

 

[Danielsmom]

Maybe mine are odd balls but i tossed a few cat toys in their tub (like the plastic balls with bells in them) at first they were afraid but now they place them in the water dish and push them around when no one watches. And anything that makes a thumping noise they love to hit we have an old plastic dish tub upside down in their outside pen they love pecking at and get angry if we remove it

 

[chickens really]

Mine like bells....Rope tied to the run...The pool...Mirrors...beach balls....