Keeping Ducks Quiet (at night)

[nao57]

So I have been trying very hard to keep my ducks quiet. Especially at night. Last year I had a complaint about them, and had to give up a noisy one. I have found out a few things that I think will help others and wanted to post about it. I also am a bit ticked off also because some people in the family were being morons and doing these things. And these things will make your ducks noisy, plus be noisy at night.

If the ducks are kept in a quiet enclosure they will be quiet also. If the enclosure doesn't have noise they have no reason to be noisy. If you stick to a schedule of feeding around the same time this also helps. It helps especially if the enclosure has a lot of blind spots where they can't see other things going on with limits to what they have their sensory inputs exposed to.

Today I found out a family member was at the back of the house at 12 AM playing very loud radio sounds and had all the lights on at the back of the house and yard. This had the ducks barking for an hour straight, responding to it. It made me quite upset because this person should know better and knew I was worried about complaints. Feeling pretty infuriated right now.

To make it worse the neighbor turned on all their lights on their whole yard also. Because our yard is so close to theirs it was like our whole yard was lit up. This makes them restless and they don't know its time to sleep. But it seems that the sound is worse than the light to be honest. Sound and hearing other things making noise makes them make noise also. It also is unhelpful to have people going in and out of doors all the time, slamming them shut. Door sounds they especially recognize as they learn to recognize that the door sounds go off before they get food. So if they hear a door open or shut they will act out on it; for good reason.

I want to do everything I can to help people keep their ducks quiet so that people will accept ducks as well as they do chickens. They can have pretty good egg production and are a lot of fun and good for kids. But if people are dumb and do dumb things then they will think the ducks are noisy (which respond to their environment).

If you have a good quiet environment that's peaceful then the ducks are peaceful also. I've had no trouble with this when the neighbors and other family members aren't creating stimuli.

 

[Callender Girl]

I think you're right that a quiet environment certainly helps to keep ducks quiet. My runners aren't particularly noisy, except at feeding time when they are completely overtaken with excitement. Once they go inside for the night, they do like to chatter a bit until everyone settles in -- not a lot of noisy quacking from the girls, more like low-grade mumbling from hens and drakes alike.

During much of the year, the shelter they live in is pretty open, with hardware cloth over most of the "walls." Now that we are shifting into colder weather, I have put up tarps over the shelter, and having the cover seems to quiet down even the nighttime chatter.

BTW, I can understand people who object to loudly barking dogs or endlessly crowing roosters (and yes, I have both of those and more), but seriously, a noisy duck? I used to live in town with people who played music outdoors hours after my bedtime, a dimwit who revved his motorcycle at all hours, kids who screamed at the top of their lungs and rode their bikes into my yard. Never did I call the authorities to complain. If the complainers near you are unhinged by the sound of a duck, maybe THEY are the real problem.

Amen to your assertion about dumb people doing dumb things. It is the primary reason I moved out into the country. Good luck with your ducks!

 

[DukesDucks]

Just curious about what your set up is. Are your ducks in an enclosed coop at night?

 

[Callender Girl]

At night, my ducks are cooped in a hardware cloth-wrapped 3-foot-by 10-foot converted chicken tractor. Half of the top is covered with metal roofing. In the winter, I wrap about three quarters of the coop in tarps to keep out rain and wind; some years, if the weather requires it, I also surround three sides of the shelter with straw bales for insulation.

 

[igorsMistress]

Thanks for sharing your experience, and I’m sorry your neighbors are jerks!

I have to agree that ducks learn sounds too. If I go out the sliding door to the yard, the whole flock comes running in a cacophony of noise to get some chow. If come from the side yard instead no one knows I’m around until I’m in sight.

Also, my ducks would make more noise when I locked them up. They’ve been able to sleep anywhere in the yard they wish since Summer and this seems to be a better arrangement for us. The drake can’t corner a too young, unwilling duck to mate with, which upsets the whole flock.