The ducks followed us around the house!! Now what?

[toadbriar]

Becky89* :

I always have two to six ducklings at a time. I handle them daily just like you do and i socalize them with my border collie ( he's an awesome brother to all my birds). Once they get to be about six months I take them up to the barn and I put them in the coop. I don't know how or why but thats all I've ever done and my Pekins follow me down to the house, they sit on the front porch, they lay with my border collie in the yard when he's outside. When Rocket (my border collie) notices that I am packing the truck he comes over to investigate and the ducks follow. I bend down with an offering of bread and they squat down waiting for me to pick them up. In the crate they go and onto the passenger seat goes rocket.. All of my ducks are therapy animals.....or they are in training to be therapy animals

I think you misspelled 'brooder collie'

 

[nettie]

Ducks imprint on the first largest (usually living or moving) thing they see when they hatch. It's usually the momma duck and their siblings. they understand then that they are a duck. If they see humans, they'll think they are humans, but the instinct of being a duck is so strong, they will revert back to ducks if that's their only choice, but those ducks tend to be more likely to walk up to humans to get food/treats later on.

What I'm talking about is the BOND, which is separate and different from the IMPRINT. The IMPRINT happens within the first three days, often within the first couple hours (So If you get your ducks from a hatchery that incubates them, the are most likely imprinted on humans). The BOND is completely different. Any ducks can bond to any individual depending on a few factors- the duck's personality, how much time they spend with ONE person while little, if treats are used, ect... We played with our groupings of two ducklings, but placed them in brooders where they could peep to each each but couldn't snuggle or see each other (that is until my runner were old enough and figured out that if they stood on their food dishes they could pop their heads up and see each other to talk lol). We gave our little ones Mirrors so they didn't feel so alone, and we made "windows" out of plexi glass and glued them into the plastic containers so they could see out (at us). We often toted their brooders around with us, depending on what room we were in, and we placed them in our room at night and covered the brooder with a light fleece blanket so they wouldn't get scared (we made sure to cut air holes on both sides of the container as well.) They lived in those containers until they were 4-5 weeks old then we moved them to a bigger brooder where they were allowed to live together. At that point they were big enough and bonded enough to their human, that they also bonded to their duck sibling/friend. Each of my ducks has a "human mommy" (although two see Joe, aka Duck_Feeder as mommy) and they have a bonded ducky friend. Ming Mei and Victor have the strongest bonds since I spent the most time with them, and they lived apart the longest (until they were 8 weeks old). the two we adopted are imprinted to humans and even though we got them at 8 months old, they have bonded to us by spending time with us. Vinny seems to like me a bit more than Joe, while Ollie adores him and knows he's the boss (I'm third in the pecking order according to her lol). Then we have the two younger ones who are joe's ducks. they don't respond very well to me since I didn't handle them much when they were little. Norie trusts me since I was there for her when she got sick
(you'll often here of a duck bonding better to a human even at an older age due to being quarantined inside while sick/injured) although her bonded ducky friend Moxy has always opened her mouth and showed she didn't like me much. lol.

I have heard of ducks and Geese bonding to a human at even older ages like, over a year old, especially if they had that original human imprint. It all depends on how much time you spend with them individually. If the OP's ducklings seems to be squirmy or not wanting to be held, I suggest getting some extra large bed pads, and letting them crawl on your lap while touching them/petting them and have "pick up" training (holding them for short bursts). Some ducks, no matter what, will hate being picked up. My Ming Mei has the strongest bond, to me, but she hates being picked up, by anyone including me and will kick and put up a fight. However she loves sitting on my lap, being pet, and standing on my shoulder. Then I have victor, who loves to be held, even like a baby, by people who he trusts. He occasionally will allow a stranger to hold him up without kicking, but he always lets anyone pet him. It really depends on the duck and their personality. Vinny is our indiscriminate lover... lol. Even though he was neglected when little (from 3 months old til 8 moths old) by his human, he immediately blended well into our little flock and just loves everyone... ducks and humans alike. when we bring him to the pet store with us, he always makes a new friend (usually little kids). Ollie will be pet sometimes, by joe, but does not tolerate being picked up or petted by me unless she's really hormonal... Norie is scared of everything until you get close enough to catch her, then she is a lover... silly duck.... like I said, all depends on the duck...

 

[bt03]

Thanks everyone for the information! We are going to hope that the time we spend with them daily will help with bonding. we realy want them to be inside ducks but it may not work out that way

I'm glad we got them because they are the sweetest things to watch and we dont have to pay for the show

No matter how well we bond they are going to be spoiled either way (though I believe they already are). The next hurdle for us is vacation! we are taking them with us in 2 weeks but it's only a 2 hour drive so here hoping they like a big pool with us not just the tub

Wish us luck

 

[Lamar Estate]

I have 2 adult ducks. Bunsen, a Cayuga, was about 1 1/2 yrs old when I got him. Beaker, a Khaki Campbell x Cayuga mix was 5 months old. Bunsen was hatched in an incubator; Beaker was hatched by a duck or chicken and lived under a camper top with many other ducks and geese.

The only way I was able to get them to bond with us (my husband and me) was to bring them inside the house (the guest bathroom) and spend hours and hours with them.

I started by letting them take baths and giving them treats (feeder fish, dried meal worms, spinach, and de-shelled snails). A few days into this, they started to eat out of our hands. After drying off, they went back outside.

We then gave in to them--they didn't like living with the chickens, so we decided they could live in the bathroom for the winter.

Since then, I spend hours a day with them. I lay down on the floor with them. After a week or so of doing this, Beaker started cuddling with us while we'd nap. She now loves to rest her beak on our nose. Bunsen also loves to sit on our pillows by our heads.

I know all of this sounds crazy. My husband thinks I'm sharing too much.

We just love them to pieces!

 

[unionwirewoman]

I had 2 pekins that I raised years ago , problem was every time I went to fix the fence the dog 2 ducks 2 cats and 3 horses would follow . Talk about a handfull ! I loved those ducks....one day I came home to a bloody feathered fill nightmare . My boyfriend at the time invited his friend over who happened to have a dog . Long story short.....all of my dogs now know to love the chickies .

 

[bt03]

Quote:
I'm so sorry about your duckies!!! I couldn't imagine coming home & seeing my babies like that!! We live in the country so I'm always afraid about people dropping off their unwanted & neglected dogs & them getting in our yard. we have to have all kinds of safe guards but I cant imagine letting in a dog willingly knowing that most aren't accustomed to having any type of bird as friend not food. Our dogs know better than to mess with the Chickens & we are getting them accustomed to the ducks. I just hope they can all learn to share the pool in the summer time because I really dont want to have to have pools all over the yard for dogs and ducks