I dont understand ducks...

[buck431397]

I am confused about my ducks sleeping habits. They go to bed later than the chickens, get up way earlier that the chickens, and it seems like they hardly sleep at night! If i go back to the coop at night they are easily awakened. Last night when i came home, i thought i saw Giblet hanging out outside. Sure enough, the ducks were all chilling- at 10:00 at night! What the heck were they doing? Do they ever sleep?

 

[houndit]

They are alert all night. They do rest, but they do not fall into a stupor like chickens. They are not as likely to get killed by predators that way.

 

[CMV]

Do ducks take a lot of catnaps? I catch mine snoozing in the sun at random points through the day. My chickens never seem to nap. In fact, I never even see them sit down unless they're laying an egg.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I read in the Hobby Farms Duck magazine that that wild ducks usually go through the day and night with alternating periods of activity that last about 45 to 75 minutes, with rest periods of approximately 30 to 45 minutes.
It also says the reason ducks sleep with one eye open is possibly because one hemisphere of the duck's brain can stay alert while the other half sleeps.
Of course the whole flock seem to do their sleeping all at the same time, when one of them wakes up all the others do. Just like teenagers no one want to miss a second of social time!

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Mine used to scare the ---- out of me. I would come home at 5 to find them laying every which way including on their back with their feet in the air looked like a pile of dead ducks! Then during the night you would hear splashing while they "played" in the pool.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I have never seen one of my ducks laying on it's back on purpose!!
I would really love to see a photo of this behavior.

 

[CMV]

Quote:
That's fascinating. Learn something new everyday.

 

[Jess N Jeff]

My ducks will take naps all day long then play in their pool all night if I let them. I put them in the coop at night so that I can sleep. My Cayuga will wake up at 4am and think that everyone else should get up too...including me.

They are on their own time schedule and they really don't care what I think about it!

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Do you get 100+ days in the summertime? They can radiate more heat through the belly and feet than they can through the wings. If it is only hot mine would spread their wings and lay them on the grass to lose heat through the body. when it was darn hot they lay there like I described often they would have their mouth open and pant like a dog. I would do my part and get fresh cool water in their dishes as fast as I could and spray them down with the hose while I was pumping the hot water out of their pools. When the hose went in the pool so did all the birds. Waterfowl don't do well with the heat. I don't do photos.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Quote:
Okay, so I don't know if this duck was doing this intentionally (it had never occurred to me that this could be intentional) but here is a pic:

he seemed to have a little trouble righting himself from this position...