Wandering Ducks

[cayugacat]

Hello everyone, I am a new duck owner since April of last year with 5 ducks raised from day 1 of their lives. They are very good ducks, two cayugas named Jade and Onyx, two khaki campbells named Amber and Topaz and a runner named Opal. They are spoiled rotten and are very healthy and happy. However, they recently started getting into a bit of trouble.

We have a secure coop/run for them for night time, and during the day they free-range around our property which is 9 acres on mountain-top without other houses near. They have a kiddie pool, a pond and many places to get into and forage in the surrounding forest. Unfortunately the slope is rather steep and this is where the ducks have been getting into trouble.

They typically stay away from the slope and stay on the mountain-top property near the house, the coop, the pool and pond. But recently (about a couple weeks ago) they've been wandering down the mountain and getting so far down that they can't make it back up without help! We get worried that they will go so far down if we aren't paying attention and not be able to make it back up by nightfall, ending with them getting lost or succumbing to predators.

Since it has become a regular issue, we began keeping them in their coop most of the day and letting them out for an hour twice a day, herded to the pool and pond and supervised, then putting them back up either after an hour or if they start to wander too far.

We hate to see them have to live like this now, like they are prisoners, so I've been trying to find ways to fix this issue. The ground is incredibly uneven and the property has lots of vegetation that fencing everything in would be very unlikely. We always give them treats and they are trained to come when called, and we scatter treats around their area to keep them entertained along with their normal foraging. But so far they still have this desire to wander down the slope if they get the chance!

I wonder if this is something that will go away at some point with the method we are using, or if there's anything that can be done to keep them from going down the mountain. We want them to be happy, free, yet safe as well. Thanks for reading, any ideas are appreciated!

 

[Ratchnick]

If you fence off that area after a few months i don't think they will go down there anymore. You don't need a very big fence to keep out a duck.

 

[threebrookscorner]

I agree with the fencing, we use a two ft. fence on our east side to keep the ducks from climbing up the hill to the front yard and away from the road. We have a brook in our back yard and I've done a couple of things to discourage them from going up or down stream too far that might help you. If you know where they go down the hill try hanging a bright birthday balloon in the bushes. When I first did this the ducks wouldn't even get in the brook for a couple days let alone stray too far. Our ducks are pretty well "trained" now but once or twice a summer I catch them swimming too far away and I'll circle through the woods to get behind them, jump in the brook and scare them home. This doesn't sound possible for your situation but it works real good for me.

 

[cayugacat]

If you fence off that area after a few months i don't think they will go down there anymore. You don't need a very big fence to keep out a duck.

Thank you! For a couple days here they've been sticking around the property very well, but this morning it's very rainy and probably excites them so much they're running about like crazy things. So looks like making a temporary fence will be the best option for us, we've figured out an area that would be spacious and easier to fence in where they can still swim and forage and hide in the brush if they need to. Thanks for the response!

 

[cayugacat]

I agree with the fencing, we use a two ft. fence on our east side to keep the ducks from climbing up the hill to the front yard and away from the road. We have a brook in our back yard and I've done a couple of things to discourage them from going up or down stream too far that might help you. If you know where they go down the hill try hanging a bright birthday balloon in the bushes. When I first did this the ducks wouldn't even get in the brook for a couple days let alone stray too far. Our ducks are pretty well "trained" now but once or twice a summer I catch them swimming too far away and I'll circle through the woods to get behind them, jump in the brook and scare them home. This doesn't sound possible for your situation but it works real good for me.

This sounds like a great idea. However I'm sure they have many different ways to get down the slopes that they can't get up... Think we'll probably make a temporary fence and hope they get over their wanderlust one of these days!