how do you lead a duck to water?

SunnyD

Chirping
11 Years
Apr 27, 2009
79
3
84
I have 4 young ducks and 2 geese. I also have a 2 acre pond I hoped they would use and look beautiful on. But they won't! My wife and I have "herded" them down to and onto the lake on at least 4 different occasions, they start dabbling and splashing having a grand old time, but the moment we leave they get out and don't return unless we herd them!? When they were much smaller they would get in there drinking tub and sit in it all lined up in a row. Then they made themselves home in my horse's 50 gal water trough which I have to empty ,clean and refill at least once a day and it's killing my back. Any suggestions on making them all happy to spend their time on the pond??
 
Can you put a drain with a hose attached on your trough? That will make it easier for you while getting them acclimated to the pond. It seems like they still see you as mommy. It may take a while. Other people here have big ponds like that so they should have some advice in that area.
 
Neither my ducks or geese liked the pond as youngsters. It took 3 years for the ducks. The first year they barely get near the pond. The next year they played around the edges. Finally this year they are really "in" the pond. The geese (who are yearlings) are just at the play around the edge stage. They will finally use the pond but it might take time.
 
My goose and original ducks wouldn't go into the pond for the first year... then, in the spring, they re-discovered it, and fell in LOVE... my spring batch saw how much fun they were having, and dove right in. Just be patient, they'll figure out how great a pond is soon enough...
 
chickensducks&agoose :

Just be patient, they'll figure out how great a pond is soon enough...

Thanks a lot everyone. This is good news. The only problem I see now is me (the patience part:)
 
But how wonderful to head to the pond a few times a day and relax with your babies!
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I hear you SunnyD. I had a whole thread on my ducks refusing to get in their pool and then when it came right right down to it, I think maybe they were just being little nutballs. I'm so new to this game, but I am already lstarting to understand just how complex and delicate a duck's psychology is lol.
x
 
The pond might have snapping turtles in it. The same thing happend to me. In the winter and spring the ducks were swimming all over our pond. When they started hanging out on the bank it made me wonder. Then I started losing ducks like crazy. One day I saw my mallard fly from their floating dock to the bank to eat. The other ducks flew as far as they could then paddled like crazy to get to the bank as fast as they could. That's when it dawned on me that I was losing ducks because they were too scared to stay on the water at night and most likely a predator was getting them on the bank. So far I have removed 11 snapping turtles from our pond. The 2 ducks that I have left are starting to venture out farther from the bank than they have since spring which leads me to believe that my assumption was correct.
 
Be patient with them, they will figure it out.

My two boys did not like the pond at first, but we kept trying and trying, and now they run to the pond in the morning when we let them out of their nighttime pen.

They have been doing this for over a week now, they are just now 4 months old. The funny thing is, I was worried once they go in, will I get them back, but when the sun gets a little low in the sky they come out and wander on up the yard where I corral them in their pen. They know there will be food there and they settle in for the evening.
 
The pond might have snapping turtles in it

Fortunately I haven't seen any snappers yet, but I have taken out the larger "sliders".I keep a good watch on the pond as feed the fish a couple times a day and hang out on the dock for awhile:cool: I heard just last week my neighbors pond has an otter in it and here in SW Georgia/Florida we have to keep our eyes peeled for gators sneaking in during their breeding jaunts:eek: Thanks for gettin' back with me!

"Friends of Feathers", I see you have a floating dock in middle of you lake. I've been working on a floating duckhouse, nothing fancy,but I was wondering if they would use it or not?​
 

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