Please advise how I can get young ducks to go up the ramp and put themselves to bed at dusk

[lomine]

I agree the first step is the make sure the ramp is easy for them to use. Make it as wide and long as possible. Make sure it's not smooth. They need traction. You can add small pieces of wood horizontally that keeps their feet from slipping back. Home improvement stores sell no slip tapes and paints. Or you can go really simple and add clean sand to exterior paint and paint the whole ramp. I did this on my old coop ramp and it really helped.

My current coop is on the ground so no ramp, but on the old one I had to heard them up every night. Currently, they sometimes go in on their own but most times I still need to heard them on. Usually depends on how nice the weather is. At first I had to train them to go in by walking behind with two long sticks. I would say "to bed, to bed" as I did it. I have a headlamp and would shine the light at the coop door as we walked. My coop door is automatic; it closes at sundown, so I would prop it open with a board. Now that they know the routine, most times I can just hold the door up, point the light at the opening, and say "to bed" and the ducks will go in.

It's much easier to heard them as a flock than it is to try to catch them individually. They are naturally inclined to want to stay together as a group.

 

[DuckinDonutsBensalem]

My ducks go in their coop on their own now but we had to train them at first. Our coop is low to the ground and has a wide ramp. The ramp is actually the repurposed side of my kids' crib. My daughter and I had to herd them at first. We placed meal worms on the ramp and placed some other treats inside the coop. We would say "Coop Coop"and encourage them to go in. When they went in, my daughter would give them praise and say "Good Job Duckies!" We don't need to do that so much anymore. They're good about going in all together when it starts to get dark. They get upset and nervous if we don't lock them in for the night right after they go in. I'd like to get an automatic door at this point for that reason. My ducks are about 5 months old.