Noisy duck!

[Castleringer]

Thanks. What's CBD?

 

[Canadian Wind]

Thanks. What's CBD?

It's short for cannabidiol, the non psychoactive component in cannabis, used to relax and promote calm. I use it for my dog who gets really anxious on car rides.

 

[ruthhope]

Poor wee Betty. It doesn't sound like an alarm call but it does sound like she is calling out for a buddy if a little hoarsely. Your suggestion that it is behavioral is likely correct, She started doing it for a real reason long forgotten and she just calls on and on now from habit.

It may be that changing something about her environment now will distract her long enough to break the habit. How many ducks do you have? Do you have the possibility of bringing Betty and another duck for company into a different part of your property for a while? If Betty were my duck, I would be tearing my hair out worrying about what is bothering her and would bring Betty and a buddy up into my sunroom for a while. I would have them sleeping together in a large dogcrate and out during the day in a temporary dog pen.

If your home doesn't have a sun room or screen porch, do you have a basement or a garage where you can bring them into? Large tarps [cheap at Walmart in the camping section or at Harbor Freight] will keep the room clean. If its only for a few days, I use puppy pads in the dogcrate as they are easy to clean up [I add layers and take them all out after a day or two, not at each change of bedding]. For longer stays in my house, I use pine shavings with a tarp not only under the pen and dogcrate, but coming up behind the dogcrate to stop scattering of pine shavings.

Good luck with little Betty. Perhaps the CBD will help too! I haven't tried that

 

[Castleringer]

Thank you all sooo much for your help and advice! We'll certainly give these things a go. I do agree it's probably a learned behaviour she needs helping out of - like dogs, the habit needs breaking. I'll get back to y'all with the outcome. Cheers for now x

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you all sooo much for your help and advice! We'll certainly give these things a go. I do agree it's probably a learned behaviour she needs helping out of - like dogs, the habit needs breaking. I'll get back to y'all with the outcome. Cheers for now x

Good luck!

 

[Castleringer]

Yay!!! Think we've sorted it! As it would be quite difficult to bring Betty inside as suggested, we went down the route of altering her routine to jolt her out of the habit. We totally changed around their bedroom arrangements and added another duck house to the stable where they sleep. It's taken 2 nights of them being a little freaked out and huddling in a corner to sleep rather than in their huts but with a little persuasion (and some defrosted sweetcorn), last night they slept inside the huts. It seems to have been enough of a change to have made her forget to make so much noise! The silence is wonderful and we can all enjoy the mumbling, Happy duck calls once again.
Thank you for all your advice x

 

[Miss Lydia]

Wonderful. Thanks for updating. Enjoy those Happy duck calls!!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Fantastic! So glad you were able to break her out of that habit! Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

 

[ruthhope]

So happy for you and Betty. Thanks for giving us the good news!