Spending time with 3wk ducklings

[Maddog_photog]

Hey yall
I’m spending as much time as I can with my 3-week old ducklings, and looking to up that time even more.
My question is this: how will spending more time with my ducklings affect their relationship with me? My goal is to have them follow me around and eat the bugs I point at. I would also love to be able to pick them up and put them in their box without running away. They have been doing a little bit of this, but I would say they mostly run away.

 

[sourland]

Ducklings frequently go through a teen aged phase when they for some reason regard humans as a danger. Feed becomes the great equalizer. They eventually come around.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I suggest baiting the box and letting them walk into it. Ducks like routine, and they very much dislike being picked up (in almost all cases) and catching them just stresses them out and makes them run, which turns into a vicious cycle.

Disclaimer: I've only had tame-ish ducklings, not truly tame ones.

 

[Maddog_photog]

Ducklings frequently go through a teen aged phase when they for some reason regard humans as a danger. Feed becomes the great equalizer. They eventually come around.

So you’re saying there’s hope at the end of this acne-prone, socially awkward stage!?
Today, I started following training: I walk 20 feet away and call out “come ducks!” Over and over and watch them waddle over. When they’re at my feet, they get.. PEAS! They go crazy for duck crack, or as I like to call it: Quack. Then I move another 20-ft and repeat until I’m out of peas.

 

[Isaac 0]

Yeah, I have NEVER had a batch of ducklings that were friendly around teenage stage, once they get older bride them with treats and they'll follow you everywhere. Walk slow, speak with a calm voice, and don't do any fast actions and you'll be set.

 

[Maddog_photog]

Yeah, I have NEVER had a batch of ducklings that were friendly around teenage stage, once they get older bride them with treats and they'll follow you everywhere. Walk slow, speak with a calm voice, and don't do any fast actions and you'll be set.

I’ve heard of the teenage stage before, but 3-weeks sounds young for my duckies to be there..? How long does this stage last?

 

[Isaac 0]

I’ve heard of the teenage stage before, but 3-weeks sounds young for my duckies to be there..? How long does this stage last?

For mine, three weeks to maybe ten weeks.

 

[Maddog_photog]

For mine, three weeks to maybe ten weeks.

Sweet! That’s not too bad!

 

[corriemartin]

I was hoping that my ducks would someday come around and be a little tamer. I'm new at both chickens and ducks, and so far, have been treating the ducks pretty much like I did the chickens--talking to them calmly when I approach and do the chores of feeding them and changing the water and putting new bedding in, etc. And then I sit and watch them for great periods of time. The chickens are now nine weeks old, and living outside in their coop and run, and whenever I show up, they all flock towards me, and surround me if I sit down on a stump in their yard. One even hops up into my lap. The rest dodge away when I try to touch them, but even so, they're really friendly.

I'm HOPING that the ducks will end up that way too. But at three weeks, they're stampeding from one side of their pen to the other when I show up. They calm down when I sit down, and go about their business. Definitely not tame. They do love chopped up clover, and come running then.

 

[Maddog_photog]

I was hoping that my ducks would someday come around and be a little tamer. I'm new at both chickens and ducks, and so far, have been treating the ducks pretty much like I did the chickens--talking to them calmly when I approach and do the chores of feeding them and changing the water and putting new bedding in, etc. And then I sit and watch them for great periods of time. The chickens are now nine weeks old, and living outside in their coop and run, and whenever I show up, they all flock towards me, and surround me if I sit down on a stump in their yard. One even hops up into my lap. The rest dodge away when I try to touch them, but even so, they're really friendly.

I'm HOPING that the ducks will end up that way too. But at three weeks, they're stampeding from one side of their pen to the other when I show up. They calm down when I sit down, and go about their business. Definitely not tame. They do love chopped up clover, and come running then.

I spent, and still spend, OBSCENE amounts of time with my duckies, from lap time next to the brooder to car rides on errands with me, I would even read children’s books to them (“The Duckling gets a Cookie!??!” By Mo Willems is a favorite!) Despite all this time and all the hand fed treats, they currently run from me in the brooder when it’s time to be transferred to outsides-ville or a car ride. Once in their box on the front seat, they’re fairly tame aside from now trying to get out of said box while I’m driving (God forbid they see the small container of peas I’ve brought along) they may let me rub their ducky bill or just sit there and poo and watch me drive until we reach our destination. They’ll also follow me on foot at the park or in the garden, which leads me to believe that when the aforementioned “teenager phase” is over, we’ll all be pals.
I hope this all helps your relationship with your duckers. I’m new to ducks too, and after a lot of blog and BYC reading, this has been my experience. Far from perfect on my end, but I’m enjoying my new companions.