Pls help, my ducks won't shut up

[Queenhen25]

Okay. I've tried a lot of things to keep my two girls quiet. I've been working with them to try and train them that quiet behavior is good, I reward them when they're quiet, and ignore them when they aren't. My issue is, they recently decided to say screw the training we will be honking all day and all night. They literally DO NOT STOP. At first it was fine. But now I'm going crazy and my husband is practically off the deep end going nuts over the noise to the point he said if they keep it up, we're selling them. Which is a big no no for me, I want to keep them. I understand noise is a part of all this and it might be they need more space or are mad they can't free range, but because they've increased their honking I have to unfortunately put them away every night. They've been attracting so many predators with the constant calls and putting not just themselves at risk, but my chickens too.
I've tried blocking their vision so they still get sunlight but no visual triggers from objects or things passing, I've tried no noises around them other than natural, I've tried a white noise machine that sounded like rain, I've tried little dimming lights bc I wasn't sure if it was due to the dark or not, I've tried training them by giving them peas when they are quiet, Ive followed everyone's advice including farmers in my area, I just can't figure out what's wrong. They have food, water, a safe place to sleep at night, I make sure they are well taken care of so why the constant honks? Do they just hate me? Do they need more stimulation? And how the hell do I entertain a duck other than food and baths?
I'll accept any and all tips at this point, I don't know what to do but I'm DESPERATE for sleep and if they wake me up again honking from dusk to dawn and then back to dawn to dusk I'll literally go crazy. I know they're supposed to be vocal but everyone I talk to, everything I read, everything says this isn't normal. I want to afford taking them to get looked at in case they're in distress for other reasons but I don't have the money, time, or a vet that checks ducks anywhere close to me. I've had a few farmers who are experienced (10-15+ years of duck keeping) come and take a look at them and they don't know what's wrong either. PLEASE HELPPP

Edit: just in case it matters these are Rouen ducks, almost a month and a half old (I think, honestly not 100% sure on age, times rough to focus on with no sleep)

 

[Jenbirdee]

How many do you have? Maybe they need more friends, get more Ducks… ?

 

[Yardmom]

You mentioned maybe more space, What space are they in now?
You say they are keeping you up at night. Is there another option that keeps them farther from your bedroom?
Also what exactly are you feeding them?

 

[Queenhen25]

How many do you have? Maybe they need more friends, get more Ducks… ?

I have two, but unfortunately don't have a whole lot of space for more, we are considering finding a drake for them but they're still pretty young. We've been looking at getting one or two more but haven't really been able to find any, other than few days old ducklings lol we've only got space for maybe four ducks, we're looking to expand in the future, but for now we don't want to overfill the coop we have (6-8 capacity but they share with the chickens, don't know how but they bonded and wanna be around the chickens and will literally freak out without them)

 

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

First of all, OMG YOUR SAILORMOONDUCK ICON IS AWESOME!

They are still so young! I imagine they will quiet down as they get older. Mine do make noise at night, but it's not constant honking. One of my flocks is made up of 5 ducks--4 hens and their drake. They sleep in a secure house and wake up throughout the night if the dogs go out and when they hear us talking outside, but they go back to sleep when things get quiet again. Do you live in the city? What do you think is waking them up throughout the night? Also, at that age (you said approximately 6 weeks?), they may not be feathered enough to be outside in cold temps--not sure where you live, so if it's warm at night, this may not apply. What kind of bedding is in your coop? Mine like to snuggle with each other into the hay.

I don't think constant honking all night long is normal, but occasional quacks on and off throughout the night is just part of keeping ducks.

 

[Queenhen25]

First of all, OMG YOUR SAILORMOONDUCK ICON IS AWESOME!

They are still so young! I imagine they will quiet down as they get older. Mine do make noise at night, but it's not constant honking. One of my flocks is made up of 5 ducks--4 hens and their drake. They sleep in a secure house and wake up throughout the night if the dogs go out and when they hear us talking outside, but they go back to sleep when things get quiet again. Do you live in the city? What do you think is waking them up throughout the night? Also, at that age (you said approximately 6 weeks?), they may not be feathered enough to be outside in cold temps--not sure where you live, so if it's warm at night, this may not apply. What kind of bedding is in your coop? Mine like to snuggle with each other into the hay.

I don't think constant honking all night long is normal, but occasional quacks on and off throughout the night is just part of keeping ducks.

Thank you! It took me forever to find a cute theme lol! As for the ducks they are on pine bedding, and its been really warm out lately, and I have a smart thermometer out there so if it drops below 70F I get alerted so I can turn the heat light on, as for us we do live semi close to the city but more so we just get cars passing by occasionally, which we thought was contributing so we made sure to get cloth that would stop them from being able to see the lights as much (tested with our headlights at night too just to be safe lol) and it's super dim if they do pass. They are really good at snuggling too, which helps occasionally but then the big one will start honking which sets off the small one, and then the whole coop is up lol we thought it was predators so we put a camera up that's similar to a ring cam and detects any movement on each side of the coop, and everytime we check nada! There's no predators! But they still honk last night we had our first big scare with them, they've been honking nonstop for almost a week and a half now, and we assume they attracted a coyote so I had to run out with a broom like an idiot to scare it off (which worked thankfully) but also WHYYYY like they should know right? Don't they have a sense of survival skills? I mean not much but come ONNNNNN

 

[JacinLarkwell]

WHYYYY like they should know right? Don't they have a sense of survival skills? I mean not much but come ONNNNNN

Not really. They're domesticated, which means that a single mistake in their behaviour generally doesn't end their genetics. From their stand point, there isn't a downside to them being loud, because if they're loud and draw something in, they're safe. Mine took a few months to quiet down, and even after 2 years, I have 2 duck hens that decide they're going to pretend that they have a bullhorn and that sets the others off.

 

[ruthhope]

Your ducks are still babies, @Queenhen25. My last two ducklings would call out for me at night if they were hungry, and they were always hungry! I brooded them in a long narrow tote that fit in my bath when they were too big for their first small brooder, but it was too cold at night for them to be in the duckling section of my duck house. But they didn't call out all night. One still does a lot of calling, but I don't think all night. He is now in the duck house in his own compartment at night. Does it just feel like yours are calling all night because you are sleep deprived?

Some ducks are definitely louder than others. My son has a sweet little crested pekin who is a very noisy little girl. I made a recording of her one night when she woke me up some years ago: I can't find it now. But she would shout at 3am for the hell of it and once everyone in the duck house was awake as well as me, my son and presumably all the neighbors, she went back to sleep. She's 4 now and still the noisiest of the flock, always scolding and bossing her family. But no longer loud enough to wake us at night [or perhaps we have learned to sleep through it!]