My day has been off to a rough start, but I still can hardly contain my excitement (and nervous fear), my ducks are coming home today! I've never had ducks before, but have chickens. Any and all advice is welcome. Everyone on here has been super helpful so far. I am getting 4 blue Swedish. They already live together and are a year and a half old. It's 3 hens and a drake. Hopefully since they all seem to be ok together thus far that the drake/hen ratio does not become a problem down the line (though I already have someone lined up that would be happy for a drake dinner if needed). They are not far from me geographically, so I'm not worried about acclimation to the weather, but I am concerned about the stress of the move for them. Any tips to help make the transition to their new home as stress free as possible are appreciated. They will have their own duck house and fenced area separate from the chickens, but will be able to see/hear each other. Their duck house construction is done, but their fence is in progress so they will spend some time in my fenced raised bed garden that's not doing much of anything since it's mid winter, I'm hoping the fence is high enough to keep them contained for a few days until their own fence is complete. I also asked the current owners what they are currently eating and bought a 50lb bag of the same food. Photos to come! We will be getting home close to dark, should I just lock them in their house for the night right away? Will this be more or less stressful? I know when I've had parakeets and other house birds the protocol was to put them in their cage, cover it so they can't see all the new crazy scary things right away, and just let them be for awhile to get used to their cage and the smells and the sounds first.
