How Far Can Ducks Be Trained?

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Also, I'd like to know -- am I the only person who pats his ducks on the head when they're standing nearby?

I'm crawling their chests and their bills and some ducks actually like that.

 

[Trisseh]

My birds know to come when called because they benefit from it. Positive reinforcement all the way. I had trained them to come no matter where they were with the bag of mealworms. Those birds (especially the drake) would come running as fast as their little legs could move if they saw or heard anything even slightly similar. Lol. My brother had come over the one afternoon and had picked up McDonalds food on the way, and let me tell you, he was definitely not expecting to be assaulted by 4 ducks and a goose when he stepped out of his car with that crinkly bag! The drake was practically climbing his leg trying to reach it. So to not discourage them, I gave him a handful of mealworms to give them to reinforce it. Lol. They also know that “ok” means to proceed. So if I open their gate and want to walk through with my hands full, usually they don’t try to go out unless I tell them it’s ok. They like routine and consistency I guess.

 

[Saigey]

I recently posted a thread about training ducks to respond to come when I call...

Then I started thinking: How much could you train a duck to do? I've always assumed that you can just get them to come here or go there. But what if you started them at a young age, making them sit or something for food? Is that even possible, or is there simply not enough brains in a bird?

I've gotten mine to walk or fly into the bathroom and to the bathtub when I tell them "bath time." When we go out, I carry them in a rubbermaid crate. If I tell them "outside time" they will fly to the crate and hop in. At night, when I tell them it's time for "snugglies" they will come out of their cage, the Male will fly up on to the bed and the female will hop onto my open hand and jump from it to the bed. I don't use diapers for them, but when we snuggle they walk up to my shoulders for me to put down puppy pads or disposable shop towels, then climb back down and sit on the pads on my chest, and when they poop on those, they get up for me to move them. A few other things, too, I'm sure I'm forgetting them. Outside, they respond to "this way" and "swimmy pool" as directions.

 

[thumper650]

Mine know when to go to bed, in their respective houses. They know the command “inside” to go into their run.
Ruby comes when I call her. Whenever I feed her treats I make a clicking sound, so she comes whenever I make that sound. My pekins let me pat their fronts, in exchange for peas. we call it peas for pats. It’s the only time I can pet them!

 

[TurkeyGoat]

Good stuff!

 

[Saigey]

They know what "hush," and "shushie" means, they just don't care. They believe the louder they quack, the faster the frozen peas get thawed in the microwave.