They LOVE the night life

[Niss]

Maybe it's the warmer temps, maybe it's the bright moon, maybe it's breeding season, but my ducks do not want to go to bed! At 10:30 last night only 3 of 11 had gone in for the night, this it the second night in a row I had to herd them in. I sang them lullibies, I warned them about preditors, and I finally chased them in. Anyone else having this issue???

 

[Kevin565]

I'm not having this issue yet but usually have it in the summer.

 

[Niss]

They always stay out later than my chickens. Last summer we had a rutine, I let them stay up until it was fully dark, and if they weren't in bed I would sing to them and gently herd them to the coop. 10:30 is well after sunset this time of year, but they ran past the open door time and time again.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

Ducks do seem to do this. Whereas chickens will go to bed as soon as it starts to get dark, duck do not do this. My ducks have always been this way. Although it is not to hard for me, because my duck are not free rang ducks. I do let them out every once in a while to swim, but even them it is not hard to get them in. My boys, have always been pretty pertective of the girls. So what I do is catch one of the girls and start walking into the pen. This causes the boy to follow me, which causes the rest of the flock to follow me as well. Try doing this, use one of the other ducks to herd the rest into the pen before it gets to dark. Hope this works for you. Good luck!

 

[Tivona]

Just my opinion but I think ducks are so much nicer then chickens in personality. I remember when I had chickens going out to the pen to check on something and them giving me looks that could kill. I always herd my ducks into their pen at sunset but if I check on them late at night they line up happily talking to me like I am an old friend they haven't seen in years. I love ducks...

 

[lovesgliders]

This is a large part of the reason that we built a really secure pen for our ducks; that way they can sleep under the stars if they so choose (and they always do).

 

[EmAbTo48]

All mine are free range also its still winter here and they will go into the coop at dark and I lock them up. But for the last 4 days its warmed up to about 30-50s! They would rather sit out in the cold wet snow then in the coop. Luckly I just have to walk towards them and they start going in because they know they have too LOL! But yes when it warms up its nicer to be outside to them!