Suggestions on herding ducks into their pens/coops

[Crazy4Fowl]

So I'm going to pop in on this old thread and share my experience. Wondering if the OP is still having these issues or if she found a solution?

In my case, I had two Pekin ducks. They used to stay out at our pond last summer after they got big enough to go outside. I couldn't catch them after that no matter what... I was always worried a predator would get them sooner or later.

About 4 months later in the early fall, I got 5 more ducks. This time I kept the new ducks in a duck pen with a coop. After a day or two, we managed to trap the two Pekins and put them in the duck pen with the others. We kept them all in the duck pen for 6 months. We had a routine every night to put them to bed. We have a long PVC pole that we use to herd them. When we grab that pole, it starts the process. We usually make one trip around the coop with us walking behind them with the pole. When we get back to the front, they all pile in the door to the coop like clockwork. Once they are in, we open the people door and shut the automatic door. It is on a timer which opens automatically in the morning but we close it manually at night since it takes the "routine" to get them to go inside.

Anyway, fast forward to today. It is a little over 6 months that they have been in the pen. In the past few weeks, I have been leaving the pen door open on Saturday afternoon. It took them a few times but they eventually started exploring outside of the pen. If they get scared, they run back to the "safety" of the pen. After a week or so of them exploring near their pen, my daughter finally directed them to the pond. This was the moment of truth.... I was worried about how we would get them out. Also wondering if the two Pekins would remember when they "lived" on the pond last summer. When evening came, they would NOT get off the pond. If you tried to approach, they ran back in the water. I finally gave up and walked away from them. I was in our barn talking to my husband when, lo and behold, the entire flock walked right on by and headed back to their pen. Once in the pen, it was business as usual as far as the "routine" for bedtime.

So.... My observation is that ducks are creatures of habit. Whatever habit gets ingrained in them is what they respond to... I like the clicker idea. DH and my daughter want to incubate some duck eggs. If we do, I want to do 2 critical things - 1) socialize them to people so they are tame and can be handled, and 2) maybe use the clicker method to train them for bedtime. Both of these will make our processes much easier in the future!

First of all, I'm actually a he lol. But yes I did find a solution. And yes ducks are creatures of habit. Once they get in a routine it's so easy to get them in. So the solution? Every evening I go out and all 24 ducks are waiting for me, sometimes even come running to me! Why? Because I've trained them it's time to eat. So I just walk out there, grab their food container from inside the coop and then bring it over and put it in the run. Then they all waddle on in and I close the door. It's funny because they actually have access to the food all day. But still they are in the habit that I will come out and give them their food. I like that I get to draw them in now instead of chasing them. I find they are a lot friendlier and sometimes will let me pet them while they eat.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Food is definitely the way to get ducks to do what you want. I put scratch and meal worms into a container with a lid and shake the dickens out while calling them, they come running.

 

[TJAnonymous]

First of all, I'm actually a he lol. But yes I did find a solution. And yes ducks are creatures of habit. Once they get in a routine it's so easy to get them in. So the solution? Every evening I go out and all 24 ducks are waiting for me, sometimes even come running to me! Why? Because I've trained them it's time to eat. So I just walk out there, grab their food container from inside the coop and then bring it over and put it in the run. Then they all waddle on in and I close the door. It's funny because they actually have access to the food all day. But still they are in the habit that I will come out and give them their food. I like that I get to draw them in now instead of chasing them. I find they are a lot friendlier and sometimes will let me pet them while they eat.

That's GREAT! I've seen a lot of posts on BYC where other duck owners have done the same thing. However I normally feed my ducks in the morning. The first time we let them on the pond, I tried to lure them back to their pen with their feed bowl. They didn't care... Had no interest in the bowl or the feed bucket. Luckily for me, when the sun starts going down, they know it is time to go back to their coop. As long as we let them be, they go back on their own... Which is funny because they will go back to the pen but won't go IN their coop until we do the nightly Chinese fire drill around the coop once before they go inside for the night.