Runner ducklings takeing on too much responsibility....

cskotek

Songster
7 Years
Apr 7, 2012
1,057
16
133
North East Pennsylvania.
And when I let them all 24 out they where all in a little huddle hanging in the grass spot where the garden was which on 2 sides has concrete and behind it is my dads wall of his stuff. Well I would take the oldest one (duckie) out for walks along with one of the yellow ones. Well after I left my dad had come home and noticed they were gone, and he went looking for them and found them down at the pond!!!! Which isnt exactly close to the house... How can I let them out with out worrying that they will do this again? Should i leave duckie (the suspected ring leader) inside while they are out until they get bigger because their ages are from march 23 on.. the yougest is about a week and a half old so hes still pretty small.. Whats your ideas?"??
Dangers at the pond:
*Aggressive male female is nesting
*Its wide open for possible birds of prey
*People walk by and take/shoot/injure them
*Drowing.....
This is the open field they had to walk through... (those birds are baby canadian geese from last year)

This is the rest of the field they had to cross to get to the pond (All of that overflow isnt there anymore and the pond is actually getting low already :( ) Also the pond isnt exactly small and the goose sits to the right of that bench which is right where the babies had gone, thank god the male didnt hurt them.


Anyone else run into something like this??
 
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My runners would walk to the next town if they don't find me nearby, so I keep them in fenced areas. I have used three foot high plastic poultry fence with wooden stakes for temporary fence, and I have now fenced a number of areas for their safety and my peace of mind. We had not one foot of fence here before ducks.

If I am not right nearby they are in the Day Pen, with fenced sides, bottom and top, as we have a number of predators including foxes and hawks.

In our flock, if I were to separate Acht (often the one pushing the envelope), then Elfie or Zwei or Vier, or someone else would be exploring the outer limits.
 
I tried putting them inside fencing that we used before... but the problem was the small ones where looking in at the big ones! They managed to get threw the holes and not find how to get back in... I dont want to restrict them, but i dont want them dying either.. With their parents the only issue i have with them going too far is the neighbors yard which has a tree line and my front yard. I hope they learn that they cant leave like that... But i guess they will only be out when im out or someone else. Unless we get smaller holed fenceing. The only difficult thing is my mom isnt a fan of pokeing holes in the ground -.-
 

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