Too many ducks at once???

[Penguinlvrparadise]

Is it possible that I got two many ducks at once?? When we had them inside and I was holding them and bathing them daily and they could hear and see us they seemed so much tamer and lovey. Now that they have been outside for a week in their new pen they are so "wild". THey don't want to be touched and they move to the opposite side of the pen with everything I do. I caught one of the Pekins and held him for a bit and he snapped at me. They stick together and run around in a flock and no one wants to break the "flock" mentality. I sit down with them and talk to them and they calm down but no one will come over to me even with treats. What did I do wrong? They were such babies inside now they are loners.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I think there is something to your theory that the more ducks you get at once, the more they are bonded with the flock than their person. But I still would not want to get too few at the risk of having a lonely duck.

Our Pekins were cuddly as ducklings, but they grew up. And our Runners love to run from us. I have found that if I sit still with treats the Pekins learned to approach. Now there is a female Pekin who will give us a tug on the pant leg and a lot of quacks for treats. But if they think I am about to chase them, they still run.

 

[gofasterstripe]

My first 2 ducklings I hatched out I carried everywhere. I would put my hand out and they would jump on and just sit there. Elliot as he got older would lean forward for me to scoop him up but........now they are in with the big ducks they have gone the same way. I can shout them to come here but they just stay out of reach..every now and then they will grace me with a touch but thats it. They are not my little boys any more, they are huge big Pekin drakes

 

[MissusDee]

I have found that ducks go through phases, as babies they are more clingy, then they go through a period of cutting the apron strings, then they come back to being lovey dovey again.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Quote:
I find the same with mine. Just after I take them outside to live they decide to be "independant teenagers " and dont want anything to do with me for a week or two. But once they are settled into the flock - they will come back and eat from my hands again.

 

[azhenhouse]

Quote:
I find the same with mine. Just after I take them outside to live they decide to be "independant teenagers " and dont want anything to do with me for a week or two. But once they are settled into the flock - they will come back and eat from my hands again.

This is good to know. I just put my Harlequins out into their new home, and you would think I was the big, bad monster. It breaks my heart. Hopefully, they will come around. Yours (penguinlvrparadise) and mine

 

[mandelyn]

I'm going through this too! I went from 0 to 9 ducks quickly. 3 of them live outside, and I've had them a week now. They hated me. So I cornered them in a fence corner and sat down. They couldn't get away without running over my lap. Which they wouldn't do. One at a time, I'd catch one and hold it until it calmed down, talking to them a lot. Once it calmed down, I would release it so it could leave if it wanted to. Repeat. Then I left. I didn't chase them or traumatize them too bad.

Then yesterday, when we were building the pen, they actually came over to investigate of their own accord. So I threw grass bits at them as a reward. I always announce my arrival outside the house with "hey you little ducky-dolittles" and they start responding to me vocally and gathering by the door to be let out. When I round them up, I just move slow. I think they have managed to learn what "Go right!" means... LOL... I have an aisle of sorts, from the perimeter fence to the coop, and they can run past the door if they want. But they've started to turn right and head into the coop now, making it easy.

I do the same thing with the little ones in the brooder, I announce myself and build their excitement up. As they talk louder, I do too. They know they're about to get fresh water and food and they don't seem to mind me even though they have numbers on their side for company. I'm still the almighty food giver. I make a big fuss and use my hand to play in their water, and they all come running over. My first hatched and the newest hatched are the friendliest.

I was thinking about setting up the baby pool, and letting the older ones get used to it. Then taking a plastic lawn chair, and sitting in the middle of it with a book. If they want to swim in their beloved pool, they'll have to do it with me. LOL The book will be me entertained while they "discuss" it and protest for awhile until deciding I'm as harmless as I ever was.

The trick is involving yourself into their lives and not touching them right off or chasing them around trying to catch them in an attempt to hold them. Just be there, offer treats, talk to them a lot, match their tone. Corner them and sit, ignore them, but stay close. Ducks seem to be really suspicious, so treat them as flighty and paranoid with calm and patience.

If you sit indian style and throw treats, throw the treats sort of far away, for an easy grab. Progressively throw it closer to you, so they can build up their boldness. Eventually, you can drop a treat in your lap and they'll get it. During the process, don't try and grab them. When they come into your space for a treat and if you can grab one without a big fuss, do it, and hold it until it sets down on your lap and is calm. Don't release it while it's still upset about it. You want the last memory to be of calm, not fighting to get away and then "succeeding" because you let it go still in a panic.

My last group of ducks from years ago, I toted them around with me in a folded up shirt and laid on a blanket in the sun with them and was just always there. I've been a lot less involved in the new ducks, but am making progress with them since I realized how "wild" they came or were getting after I hatched them. The ones I hatched know my voice from talking to them during the hatch. But the new ones, I think the oldest were traumatized by the little boys that had them. But they're coming around.

 

[julie75]

I agree with Mandelyn. My ducks also go through the "she's trying to kill me stage". I spend alot of time just talking to them and getting them comfortable with me again. Also the treats REALLY help, lol. Sometimes at night I will go into their house and just rub them, without holding, and talking to them. After a couple minutes they realize I'm not going to eat them and go on about their business as usual.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

If you want a pet duck it's best to only raise one. If you raise two or more from ducklings they will imprint on you but they will also imprint on each other, then when they get older they will love their siblings best. If you only raise one it will love you best.

This is from the Mother goose website:

GOSLING sees GOOSE GOSLING sees a HUMAN
GOSLING sees GANDER GOSLING sees another HUMAN
GOSLING is a GOOSE GOSLING is a HUMAN
MOM & DAD are GEESE MOM & DAD are HUMAN
GOSLING sees GOSLINGS GOSLING sees GOSLINGS
GOSLING is also a GOSLING SIBLING. GOSLING is a GOSLING SIBLING
All GOSLINGS love MOM & DAD All GOSLINGS love MOM & DAD
GOSLINGS grow to be GEESE GOSLINGS grow to be GEESE
GEESE still love MOM & DAD GEESE still love MOM & DAD
GEESE don’t mate with MOM & DAD GEESE don’t mate with MOM & DAD
GEESE don’t mate with SIBLINGS.* GEESE don’t mate with SIBLINGS
GEESE love SIBLINGS GEESE love SIBLINGS BEST
GEESE mate with other GEESE GEESE mate with other GEESE
GEESE love MOM & DAD GEESE love MOM & DAD, TOO

3.
GOSLING sees a HUMAN.
GOSLING is a HUMAN.
GOSLING sees another HUMAN.
MOM & DAD are HUMAN.
GOSLING sees HUMAN CHILDREN
GOSLING is a HUMAN SIBLING.
GOSLING loves and needs MOM & DAD
GOSLING grows to be GOOSE
GOOSE still loves MOM & DAD
GOOSE doesn’t mate with MOM & DAD*
GOOSE doesn’t mate with SIBLINGS.*
GOOSE loves SIBLING
GOOSE can fall in love with a HUMAN
GOOSE loves MOM & DAD BEST

 

[Xaviorffviii]

PrinceSandwich I read that too a while ago, and now I have a 5 month old Black Swedish Imprint. when he was about a month old he saw the other ducks I have for a few minutes, and he's heard them his entire life. I'm wondering if he could have had an even stronger imprint If he never heard or saw them. He was quite old before he did start hearing them though, and I hear that the longer they go, the more they imprint.

However I've spent a lot of energy and resources to make sure he never sees them again, because I have no idea if he'll lose his imprint if he does hang around my other ducks. It may seem silly, but he sits on my lap and watches tv with the whole family(though he'll attack if he's in a bad hormonal mood, hes like a hormonal teenager right now), following us around the house and yard(he even wears a diaper when he's around the house), and It would break my heart to lose that. Does anyone know anything?

-David