My four Ancona ducklings are now four and a half weeks old, beginning to feather out nicely and all seem strong and healthy. I have had them out in the new duck house for the past three or more weeks and they can go out into the run at will this past week. The three older ones are still not adjusting to them very well. I have part of the house partitioned off with plastic fence and a smaller portion of the run is also fenced off for the littles. The older ducks, two ducks and one drake, free range during the day and are penned in the run at night with access to their portion of the duck house. In the evenings I feed them all at the same time with their bowls just a couple feet away from each other to help them get used to each other. I usually sit out ther in the house with them, talking to both sides to encourage them. It is such a slow process. The big girls continue to charge, head down toward the littles. The drake hardly pays any attention to the littles. It doesn't look terribly agressive, but I haven't tried removing the fence between them yet to make sure. How long will it take for the older ones to accept the littles? Any other suggestions of how to get them used to each other?
