Strange duck behavior....seasonal?

[DucksOhio]

Since the weather has been slowly warming up, my ducks are really acting whacky. I’ve never experienced this with them. They are terrified of me, and are reluctant to come out of the barn in the morning. Ironically, they don’t want to go back in the barn in the late afternoon either.

we still have frozen snow and ice, but I’ve cleared areas outside for them to swim and eat. The barn is kept open so they can go in anytime they want.

And the odd thing is that they’re really not eating a lot. Peas, yes, mealworms, but I’m so surprised to find so much uneaten food in the morning. I had introduced kale to them a few months ago and they went bananas over that. Now they won’t touch it.

Their food is kept inside my house and it’s kept fresh in lidded containers. The barn is cleaned every day, food and water bowls are scrubbed every day.

They all look fine, no lethargic behavior. From 8 young girls, I’m maybe getting an egg a day or less. Yesterday was 43F, today will be 50+F.

Has anyone experienced behavior like this?

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Is it possible you've had a predator in or around the coop/pen? Birds will act like this when there's been an attack or an attempted attack. They get really skittish and nervous to go out or eat because of the threat.

 

[DucksOhio]

No, no predators. I work from home and keep a pretty good eye on them. Wonder if they are out at night. But the ducks wouldn’t see them.

 

[3bird]

We were shocked our first year with ducks that they seemed to eat less when it got cold. We live in Maine, so I'm talking about teens and single digits as "normal" cold. We do feed a soup 2x/day, which is usually peas with some greens and a mealworm crumble, and they eat that enthusiastically, but they don't eat as much grain (we feed Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance free choice in the run). When it's really cold (like single digits and below zero), we do add some corn to their soup and cracked corn to their grain. Today it is 44F, which is the warmest by far that it has been in a month, and their grain bowl was licked clean this morning for the first time in a while.

 

[DucksOhio]

We were shocked our first year with ducks that they seemed to eat less when it got cold. We live in Maine, so I'm talking about teens and single digits as "normal" cold. We do feed a soup 2x/day, which is usually peas with some greens and a mealworm crumble, and they eat that enthusiastically, but they don't eat as much grain (we feed Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance free choice in the run). When it's really cold (like single digits and below zero), we do add some corn to their soup and cracked corn to their grain. Today it is 44F, which is the warmest by far that it has been in a month, and their grain bowl was licked clean this morning for the first time in a while.

I have to try that soup. Strangely the ducks ate a ton in the winter, but much less now.

 

[3bird]

I have to try that soup. Strangely the ducks ate a ton in the winter, but much less now.

I mean that makes sense to me, right?! When it's cold, you eat more. For example, when I'm winter mountaineering I plan to eat in excess of 2 lbs per day per person, but in the summer, it's more like 1.5 lbs.

 

[VeryHappyHens]

Since the weather has been slowly warming up, my ducks are really acting whacky. I’ve never experienced this with them. They are terrified of me, and are reluctant to come out of the barn in the morning. Ironically, they don’t want to go back in the barn in the late afternoon either.

we still have frozen snow and ice, but I’ve cleared areas outside for them to swim and eat. The barn is kept open so they can go in anytime they want.

And the odd thing is that they’re really not eating a lot. Peas, yes, mealworms, but I’m so surprised to find so much uneaten food in the morning. I had introduced kale to them a few months ago and they went bananas over that. Now they won’t touch it.

Their food is kept inside my house and it’s kept fresh in lidded containers. The barn is cleaned every day, food and water bowls are scrubbed every day.

They all look fine, no lethargic behavior. From 8 young girls, I’m maybe getting an egg a day or less. Yesterday was 43F, today will be 50+F.

Has anyone experienced behavior like this?

oh ur lucky my male ducks attack me when im minding my own businesse and they chase me down and bite me and ouch do they hurt. When i run towards they still come towards meh ):

 

[SolarDuck]

oh ur lucky my male ducks attack me when im minding my own businesse and they chase me down and bite me and ouch do they hurt. When i run towards they still come towards meh ):

Sounds like you need to dominate them so you are top duck.

 

[3bird]

oh ur lucky my male ducks attack me when im minding my own businesse and they chase me down and bite me and ouch do they hurt. When i run towards they still come towards meh ):

When one of our drakes is being a turd, I pick him up and whisper sweet nothings of Christmas dinners, duck pâté en croûte and tacos de carnitas de pato in his ears until he settles down. He knows we love him, but he also knows that we're the bosses!

 

[VeryHappyHens]

When one of our drakes is being a turd, I pick him up and whisper sweet nothings of Christmas dinners, duck pâté en croûte and tacos de carnitas de pato in his ears until he settles down. He knows we love him, but he also knows that we're the bosses!