I want to start free ranging but how?

[thumbelina93]

So I am still new to owning ducks. I live in a neighborhood and my house backs up to a huge pond and we have always had feral muscovy and an occasional mallard so I finally got the idea to start raising my own in the backyard (I did not take any from the wild fyi). Anyway now I have a handful of teenage ducks that have been living in an enclosed kennel and are almost feathered out but not fully. I want to be able to free range them once they are fully feathered but I have no idea where to start. I have a privacy fence around my yard that has an opening and closing gate that leads to the pond. How can I make sure that they can get to the pond and make sure they come back to the pen at night?

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

train them to come back when you call them?

 

[thumbelina93]

Whats the best way to do this?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

There is no real way to garruntee that they will come back, but I think the best approach would be to keep them in your yard area for at least 2-3 weeks (I would almost go a month) without allowing them access to pond so you can establish that your yard is their home and where it's safe. After that only feed them in your yard and if you have any flying breeds you will need to keep them clipped otherwise there's a decent chance they will want to take off with the other ducks at the pond. My main concern would be biosafety. You don't know what diseases/illnesses the wild/feral ducks would be mingling in with your flock. Even if they seem healthy now they could fly to another pond and bring something back or a new duck might show up that's less than healthy and your ducks could end up very sick or worse.

 

[416bigbore]

Routine and treats. This link might be helpful for you, good luck and please keep us posted on your progress.

https://www.wikihow.com/Train-Ducks