How much should we handle them?

[lina500]

We have two ducklings that are almost a month old. I am not sure how much we should be handling them if we want them to be friendly. They eat our of our hands but don't seem to like being picked up. Any suggestions for what we can do to make them tame as adults (or do we even want that?)

 

[Finny]

Handle them as much as possible. I handled mine at least two hours a day and they are all very friendly now. They will follow me around the yard and run out to greet me. They will also climb into my lap and let me pet them if I am sitting. My ducklings never like to be picked up also, but if you keep picking them up anyways they will learn to tolerate it or even like it. Talk to them a lot also. The more they hear your voice, the more they get used to it. Treats always help . A good way for them to get used to you is watch movies with them on your lap. Hope this helped! Good luck!

 

[lina500]

Thanks, this does help. We have been very lax about handling them because we love just sitting and watching them. I will make more of an effort!

 

[Ellaluvsbirds]

I agree that handling them more helps to make them much more tame. Another thing that you could do with them is let them swim (supervised of course) in a barrel, bath tub etc. This also helps them to get used to you and trust you and also to get them used to being handled. And

 

[Cheyen]

Handle them as much as possible, but not too often in one day. Don't want them to get too stressed and stop eating. Ducks are paranoid little things. They're like the rabbits of the poultry world, lol.

 

[TLWR]

At 4 weeks you are an evil monster, so they are not going to want to be picked up.

Mine are 4 weeks and until yesterday, they'd still seek out hanging out next to me and if I picked up Dill, Jasmine wanted to find a way up onto my lap.... without my help. Helping resulted in scratching the crud out of me. Since I was picking up to check out wings last night, neither are too fond of me right now. Peas - and they'll come around again.


Handle them as much as you can. When mine were little, I'd sit and watch tv at night with them. Now I just plop one into my lap after they've pooped and the other wants to join as well.

You figure with feathers coming in, it can't be too comfy to be touched, so I just hang with them and when I do put them on my lap, I let them decide what they are doing, I don't really pet them. Usually they walk on me until they find my hand and then sit in it.

 

[Mashallaharabia]

One good thing about having our hens hatch out and raise their own ducklings is that we don't have to handle the ducklings at all. We catch them several times a year to clip the wings; other than that I don't need to handle them. They come up to me when I feed them, that's as tame as they need to be. (Speaking about my own birds only, I''m not trying to make pets of them).