How would I get my ducklings to not run away

[themightysteph]

How would I get my ducklings and chicks to not run away in the brooder and not run away from me when I go in their coop? My other grown ducks do this unless I have food and they hadn't eaten for a day.:/

I have 5 chicks and 4 ducklings

 

[sourland]

Feed is the great equalizer. Feed them several times a day and provide only that which they will finish in 5 or 10 minutes. As they become hungry, they will come to associate you with feed. Let them come to you - do not grab at them. Remember at all times that they are prey animals and their survival instinct tells them to flee.

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

For adult birds I find a treat they really like and put it on the ground. I make a trail and sit on the end with treats all around me. I sit really still.That helps them get use to me. Then i put treats on my legs still staying still. I do this untill they are okay if i move a little. then i put feed in my hands and stay still. after a long time they get use to eating out of my hands.

For ducklings i just pick them up and hold them. Talk to them all the time. And just sit in the brooder after i clean it and let them get use to me. Hope this helps!

 

[TLWR]

For babies - spend time.
My little one walked over and sat in my hand when I went to take them out this morning.

I bring them in to play in the bathroom until I know they will follow me outside. I sit/lay on the floor to let them get used to me. I put the brooder up so I'm not reaching down to them, but in. My brooder now is sitting up on saw horses so I don't have to reach down to get them.

I've also brought them in and put a towel on my lap and just sit with them. I only have 2 this time around, so I bring them both in together. With more, I'd do one at a time, or 2 at a time.

When I put them back in the brooder this afternoon (they spent the day in the turtle pen), I leaned in and one climbed up on my arm and sat down then curled up on me. Then the 2nd one joined.

We'll see what a few weeks bring when I turn into the devil in their mind...


But time. Let them get used to you and then just spend time with them.

 

[themightysteph]

For adult birds I find a treat they really like and put it on the ground. I make a trail and sit on the end with treats all around me. I sit really still.That helps them get use to me. Then i put treats on my legs still staying still. I do this untill they are okay if i move a little. then i put feed in my hands and stay still. after a long time they get use to eating out of my hands.

For ducklings i just pick them up and hold them. Talk to them all the time. And just sit in the brooder after i clean it and let them get use to me.  Hope this helps!

I have only gotten my adult birds to eat out of my hands maybe twice. My little ones when they where in a smaller brooder I would stick my fingers in the cage and they would nibble as I pet them but when I got the chickens i bought a stalk tank and they run away every time lol

 

[NCBantam22]

For me chickens have always been jumpy and flighty when I try to handle them and they are "independent minded". My three ducklings have imprinted on me and think i'm their mother.

 

[themightysteph]

I think it would be best if they imprinted on me In the first place then they wouldn't be scared