Ok so last weekend we decided our 10 black swedes were old enough to finally go out to the pond and their permanent place of residence. I built them a duck house with a sliding front door, bedded them down for the first night and then came the big day! We let them out (or at least opened the door) and....nothing. They wouldn't come out. I made a big door on the other side of the house for cleanout purposes, so I put my 5 yo in and let him slowly shoo them out of the house. They walked up to the water but they didn't run and jump in like I thought they would. Oh well, I was finishing up the fence around the pond and the 1.5 acres that I set aside for them so I kept a watch on them. That night I just kind of herded them back into the pen. Next day I opened the door and out they came headed straight for the water. Eventually one of them got in and then it became a free for all! They were all going crazy splashing around and diving under the water. Really funny to watch their unbridled joy.
So night came around and time to put them back in the duck house (because that is where everyone says they have to be or then will get eaten!) and we spent an hour trying to get them out of the water. No luck. Finally left them out (worried the whole night) and went out to check on them in the morning. All were fine and looked at me like "What? Why were you worried?". They have been out for about 2 weeks now. As far as I can tell they have never used the duck house. But now I am worried again....like all of the rest of the country we are scheduled for record lows here tonight (14F) with a high tomorrow of 24F. I have been out when they were swimming around with ice on the edges of the pond (gave me chills just to watch - brrrr) but am worried that they will not use the structure I built for them tonight. There isn't any electricity out there (because I just wasn't expecting these low temperatures in our location - God's sense of humor again!) and they are getting most of their food from the pond as they are not going through a 7 lb feeder every 4 days. Any ideas if I should be worried or what I can do to entice them into the duck house? They are only 10 weeks old so although they look full grown I don't think they have enough experience to know if I was offering them something really tasty to lure them into their house. Any suggestions? Thanks
So night came around and time to put them back in the duck house (because that is where everyone says they have to be or then will get eaten!) and we spent an hour trying to get them out of the water. No luck. Finally left them out (worried the whole night) and went out to check on them in the morning. All were fine and looked at me like "What? Why were you worried?". They have been out for about 2 weeks now. As far as I can tell they have never used the duck house. But now I am worried again....like all of the rest of the country we are scheduled for record lows here tonight (14F) with a high tomorrow of 24F. I have been out when they were swimming around with ice on the edges of the pond (gave me chills just to watch - brrrr) but am worried that they will not use the structure I built for them tonight. There isn't any electricity out there (because I just wasn't expecting these low temperatures in our location - God's sense of humor again!) and they are getting most of their food from the pond as they are not going through a 7 lb feeder every 4 days. Any ideas if I should be worried or what I can do to entice them into the duck house? They are only 10 weeks old so although they look full grown I don't think they have enough experience to know if I was offering them something really tasty to lure them into their house. Any suggestions? Thanks
