Super Newbie Question!

[DuckGirl77]

Yay!!! Little by little will do it!

 

[bydhatch]

Yay!!! Little by little will do it! 

Update: if I stick my hand in the brooder, they will wander up to it and eventually cuddle in for a long nap. At a point they fought over my hand. Haha! We took a field trip to the covered deck and took a dip in a paint roller tray. They would approach us easily and hop over, play with hair, watches, etc. They were set on trying to swim in the water too! They are sleeping a bit longer and seem so much more comfortable!

 

[DuckGirl77]

Update: if I stick my hand in the brooder, they will wander up to it and eventually cuddle in for a long nap. At a point they fought over my hand. Haha! We took a field trip to the covered deck and took a dip in a paint roller tray. They would approach us easily and hop over, play with hair, watches, etc. They were set on trying to swim in the water too! They are sleeping a bit longer and seem so much more comfortable!

Wow! Mine weren't that tame when they were little. You must be doing alot with them!

 

[bydhatch]

Wow! Mine weren't that tame when they were little. You must be doing alot with them!

We are trying too!
As of now, they are okay with being held as long as they can see each other. Last night, they curled up at my ankle and fell asleep. Today, they almost crawled under me and when we disappeared for a moment they distress chirped.

 

[Spyderk117]

We are trying too!
As of now, they are okay with being held as long as they can see each other. Last night, they curled up at my ankle and fell asleep. Today, they almost crawled under me and when we disappeared for a moment they distress chirped.

That's really good! My Mallards would scream/peep for me if they didn't see me!

 

[DuckGirl77]

We are trying too!
As of now, they are okay with being held as long as they can see each other. Last night, they curled up at my ankle and fell asleep. Today, they almost crawled under me and when we disappeared for a moment they distress chirped.

Awww

 

[purslanegarden]

Holding them, talking to them are all good. Like you discovered, giving their feet a foundation will make them squirm less.

You can also hand-feed them to get them more accustomed to you.

House ducks will get more used to you faster but yard ducks can do the same if you keep working at it.

 

[robinjs11]

I have had ducklings twice and both times they were very scared and ran away until 3 weeks old. Until they realize you feed and water them, then everything changes and they get excited to see you

 

[Lilki]

My mallards were pretty skittish when they were little. They never got used to being held. At 12 weeks now they aren't skittish at all but still want nothing to do with being held or petted. They do follow us around the yard and will fly to greet us. The female also quacks loudly (as they do) when we get home. It's pretty cool. Sounds like you're doing a really good job getting them to calm down!

 

[bydhatch]

@purslanegarden @robinjs11 @Lilki
Thank you for your input! They are doing so well! This morning I got a little ducky lap time and instead of taking the "bus" (a transport bin) back inside carried them without problems!