<sigh> My ducks are not happy with me...

[Darkjeweler]

My ducks have been out on my small back porch for the last couple of months while I have been building the new run. Well, I put them in the run last night for their first "overnight" in the new pen and they don't like being out there.. Any time they see me, they run to the door and scream "Let me out. We want to me back on the porch where it is safe"... And while I miss the ducks feathered little faces when I look out the sliding glass door, they really need to be out in the run where they have more room to move and are not constantly under foot.. Now I need to clean off the porch poo..

I just hope my ducks forgive me and learn that the pen is their new home from now on..

I am such a cold heartless jerk. <sigh>

I even walked out to the enclosure like 15 times last night to make sure they were ok.

 

[kyrose]

thats a nice set up.im sure they will learn to love it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
X2.

 

[ChickInDelight]

I can totally relate! My ducks hate anything new - including the duck house I have spent months building. They slept in it some nights, but they seem wigged out my the roof addition. Next time they enter, they are going on lock-down for awhile.

It seems I need to get them in at exactly the right time of the evening, or I am the enemy.

The chickens and dogs, however, will go in all the time.

 

[mhwc56]

that's a real nice looking set up....my ducks would hate it too though cuz they have free run of the yard all day which includes looking in the windows and begging for attention.The only time they're confined is at night in their pen in our shed and they put themselves up at dusk every night so i only have to close the door .

 

[Amiga]

Uhm. . . hey, guys. . . .

Didja have a pea party in the new digs? Howz a duck s'posed to know a place is good if there's no duckhouse warming pea party? With lots an' lots of peas . . . Hmmmmmm??????

Worked with my runners.

 

[Darkjeweler]

Peas? Nah, mine have a melon party every night.. I dice up a bit over a lb of melon and bring it to them.. They eat out of my hands.. Of course, once the melon is gone, I am the enemy again...

 

[MrsKemmerlin]

I'm in the same boat - my babies got their wings clipped for the first time this weekend

They did wonderfully and loved sitting in my lap and cuddling and being petted, but when I took them back outside and they went back to "bug exterminator mode" and realized they could no longer fly to chase the buggies...

..Oh, if looks could kill.

But I agree, I love the set up! They will learn to love it, too!

But heck, mine still do the "you left me! come back and take me with you!" thing!

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I would keep them in it for 5 days or so (if you plan to let them out to free range) and spend some time in there with them just sitting, giving them some peas, or melon, and just sitting some more.
Maybe if they see its good enough for YOU they will come around to it being good enough for them.
My ducks were really glad to go into their new pen. I couldn't get them out for anything for a week. Now they come and go from the enclosed yard, but rarely go very far.

 

[Darkjeweler]

This will mostly be their permanent home.. Perhaps once in a while I will let them free range a little as long as I am in the yard. Here we have Hawks and Turkey Vultures, Stray Dogs, Coons, Opossums and who knows what other types of predators. I have already lost (4) free ranging Guineas (who are brought in at night). I don't want the same thing to happen to the ducks.. I guess I just like my ducks better.. Besides, the ducks are a bit more helpless than the guineas. At least the guineas can fly.

Each morning I am out there with them for a 1/2-hr or so before I have to go to work. I play with them and pet them when I can. In the evening I play with them some more. While I am in the enclosure, they are content to walk away from me, but the instant I walk back toward the house the "Take us with you" quacking and crying starts.