Why won’t they swim?!

[peltierk]

We have two Rouen and one rescued Mallard duck. We also have 9 chickens, three 8week old turkeys and one half grown turkey. They have all grown up together and get along fine, it appears. We had a kiddie pool for the ducks, and they used it often and gleefully. Then, we raised it on top of three pallets and put a drain system in to make cleaning easier (it works great, by the way-love it!) we added a ramp and other things to make it easy for them to get in and out-but only one Rouen will get in, and only rarely. We picked up the other two and put them in to show them it was there- they hopped right back out.

The half grown turkey spends lots of time on top of the platform. He drinks from the pool often, as do some of the chickens. My question is, might the turkey be intimidating the ducks or making it seem like the pool is now his?

 

[Lil Drake40]

Hard to know what goes on in the mind of ducks. They sure don’t like changes though .You might try to entice them in by getting them up the ramp with treats say dried meal worms or peas then when they are up there toss the treats in the pool. Have you noticed the turkey scaring them off or intimidating them?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Ducks are both more flock-oriented and more paranoid than chickens are. Changes = bad, and if one duck's avoiding it, they all will.

Just give them time. It took four months for our first mallards to voluntarily go to the pond after they were raised in the barnyard.