Water Shy Ducks!

[Slow Belly Farm]

I picked up some Rouens for my mother a few months ago, I am guessing they are about three months old now.

She has a beautiful lake, almost 2 acres...the stupid ducks won't even go in the water!

Ideas?

I want to round them up, take them in the john boat and dump them in the middle of the lake. They are very skittish though and freak out when you get close to them.

 

[Angsminizoo]

Maybe you should start small with a baby pool, something not so intimidating. They may not have had access to water to swim in before and are not used to it. I have had ducklings that I have had to introduce to water very slowly, now they love it. Good luck.

 

[ZoeS95423]

When I had pekins, they werent raised around water, until they were a little over a month...and they were terrified of it, Eventually they started to use it after a few weeks of it being there for them...

Now they love it, but after that, I introduced my baby ducks to water at a young age so they werent freaked out about it.

 

[Slow Belly Farm]

They had a small wading pool until it was time for the "big water". They used to LOVE the wading pool. Maybe we'll set it back up, but down close to the big water this time.

Keep the ideas coming!

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

i have four 7 day old muscovy's that i've had since 3 day's old. i noticed they like playing in their water bowl so i filled our kiddie pool with a couple inches of water. they love it!

 

[70%cocoa]

I agree that it's a good idea to set up the kiddie pool again for now. They will probably get used to the 'big water' eventually. You could try scattering some peas around on the bank and just in the shallow parts - might encourage them to venture closer!

I have ducks that took months to get used to a new swimming arrangement (they used to have a dam and now a kiddie pool) but now they are very comfortable with it and splash away. Some ducks just take their time with new things I guess

They are cautious little people.....