Thank you so much for all your advice. I actually printed out your post so I can refer to it. Winchester came out of the incubator a week after the other three and never been very socially inclined with humans. Probably her little brother and sister got in the way of that endeavor. The next batch are going to get more individual attention and being picked up and petted. I do think the little pen they lived in when they first moved outside was detrimental our relationship. The pen was too small and I think they were worried about being stepped on. I have been working on this. Now that they weather has warmed up, I am going to put a lawn chair out in their pen and do more visiting.Everyone's advice is spot on. I just want to point out the transition from duckling to duck since this seems to be a big source of frustration that I have both experienced and seen pop up on the forum. I am assuming that your ducks have just matured recently - if not, this won't mean much.
Ducklings need their mama. If they imprint on you, they see you as their mama and they will love you dearly. However, once they are grown, a duck's mom is just another duck - nothing special. So once they are grown, you have a whole new relationship to develop. When they were a duckling, they "needed" you. Now that they are ducks, they don't. So now you need to develop trust, and affection. Trust comes from repeated proximity and exposure without you doing "bad things" to them - "bad things" are interpreted by them not mebut might be picking them up when they don't want it - chasing them around when they don't want it or anything else that makes you seem scarier than your size already does. And affection comes from "good things" - "good things" are also interpreted by them. Treats are most definitely good things. But other "good things" might be letting them play with your shoe laces. Spending time close to them when they want it. Talking to them when they approach you. Taking care of them (they see where their food, water and swimming pools come from.)
I have 13 ducks. As ducklings, all of them but 4 (Snow, Greta, Rhiannan and Roxette) were cuddly. Those 4, were more concerned about being taken from their friends than socializing with us and would complain and try to get back to the brooder. At 6 - 8 weeks they all of a sudden became afraid of us (well at least skittish) and that is when they decided they didn't want to be picked up ever. Two of our runners came later and were brooded separately. They got ALL the attention. They were almost "house ducklings". When I sat down to watch TV, I set them in my lap and they would climb up me and settle on my shoulder and cuddle with each other and my neck. They were MUCH closer to us as ducklings than the rest of the flock. At 6 - 8 weeks - poof - same result. They are now all approaching a year, and all of them will come check us out when ever we go in the back yard. Depending on what I am doing, sometimes they will hang out and watch me, other times they will drift off and forage. In fact, they will all rush to the front gate whenever we pull in our driveway with either of our cars (when others pull in, that is not true) so I assume they can recognize our vehicles. If I go and sit either in a chair or on the ground with them, they will nibble on me, climb on me and make happy clucky sounds around me. (2 - 4 at a time if I don't have treats, mosh pit if I do have treats) If I hold out an empty hand to them, they shy away, give it light pecks or nibble on my fingers depending on their moods. Most will let me stroke them once or twice before they casually wander out of range. The 4 that didn't like to socialize as ducklings are some of the friendliest. The 2 that were "house ducklings" just started coming around a couple months ago and are now friendly. Only 1 will let me pick them up without fuss and that is Kaine, my lead drake. I think that is more defiance than trust because with him, I pick him up and he doesn't struggle or try to run away. I sit down and set him on my leg and he turns his head so his bill is against my cheek and he is staring in my eye. He stays just like this and lets me scratch his chest until I let him go, then he gets his balance and flies from my leg to the ground and squawks and flaps his wings and tells all the girls how brave he is. The others try to avoid being picked up, but once they are caught, they are calm while being held and stroked, but are glad to be free again. Maybe at two years they will be even more familiar... We will see.
So my long winded point is ducklings are a different animal than the ducks and it is a separate relationship. With time and patience you should be able to have very friendly ducks but also each duck has a very unique personality, so nothing is universal.
They are almost like human children aren't they? Glad dogs aren't like that ...
Our dogs did go in and view the ducklings when they were in the brooder. Their brooder room was right above the back gate so they got used to dog barking and howling. I am so proud of our dogs. I thought they were going to be a real bother once the dogs had their yards by barking and rushing at them. The two yard are right next to each other. The dogs just lay in the back yards near the fence and the ducks will lay right next to the fence and they more or less ignore each other.
Thanks again for the advice. I know I'll find it very useful. I have to leave the computer ... more later.
