Our baby ducks are afraid of the kitchen broom

[Duoas]

We were wondering about this...

We have two 2-1/2 week old giant pekin ducks, Trouble and Ava, who love to hang around us (of course

They have a surprising fear of our red kitchen broom.

It is surprising because we got them the day they hatched, and as far as we know they have never been menaced with brooms or large red objects..

Do any of you know what would cause such a reaction? Or do you have similar stories?

 

[LittleSquidgenHome]

Ducks are quirky, especially when they are so little. Anything that is not the normal every day occurrence can throw them off. If they don't see the broom every day at the same time in the same way, they will probably have a fear reaction to it, for a while anyway. My ducks freak out when my husband goes in the barn, in the pasture is fine he can walk amongst them with no one noticing, but something about his imposing figure and deep voice freaks them out. They also don't like it when I wear long, flowey, dresses. I don't know if they think something is attacking me, but they don't like it and flip OUT.

Just be patient, they will likely desensitize to it eventually. Hang in there and be reassuring.

 

[Duck_feeder]

It's normal for ducks to be scared of long sticks for some reason (fear of snakes maybe?). Our adult ducks freak out anytime they see a stick-like object. Some people use sticks to herd their ducks (we use them to get them out of their pen). For some reason our ducks are only scared of sticks when indoors - outside only a few of them even react to the sticks. However they ate still terrified of hoses outdoors... For some reason our youngest two ducks weren't afraid of sticks until they fully feathered out. No idea what that was about...

 

[Siler]

I have to carry a broom through the yard to keep my Mallard Drake away from me. It's spring time and he wants to mate and he's sectioned me and a particular chicken off and he'll chase me down and bite. When I'm wearing flip flops and shorts it hurts so I have to carry the broom just to keep him away.

 

[Duoas]

LOL.

Our ducks aren't afraid of the hose... they love getting sprayed and drinking the water. (Our hose is lead-free.)

Today they had a great time. First we went to a church Memorial Day social at Parvin State Park, where they got to meet everyone and hang out.

Then we drove down to my wife's parent's house for the yearly get-together tradition. There is a small, ~1 foot deep kiddie pool for Aunt Lisa's kids, and this was the first time they got to swim. They were so happy. First they dunked their heads, then floated, than swam under water, then swam around, and pooed, and ate their poo, and swam some more, etc.

Since they don't have all their feathers yet, they couldn't stay in too long, but when we pulled them out they ran around the pool and went and jumped into a small 'foot clean' pool and quacked a lot.

Happiness is happy ducklings.