Successful Bedtime!

[mjoal]

3 days ago I got my new Runner Ducks! The first night was a big struggle to get them in their coop, the second day they didn't want to leave the coop and spent the entire day inside but today...today was a great day!! I opened the door at dawn and after a few minutes they came out, stretched and jumped into their pool. They foraged a lot, ate a little bit of their grain but as bedtime came closer I was getting nervous about putting them to bed. Around 8:30pm I walked over to them just as they were making their way into their coop! It was the best feeling that they figured out how to go into their coop by themselves!
My question though, is how much should they be eating? I'm feeding them the same food as they had been getting from the farm they vame from but they're just not interested. Could it be they're still settling in? I cut up some romaine lettuce and watermelon yesterday and they gobbled that down, they forage a lot too but their crumbles just don't seem to interest them at all.

 

[Ratchnick]

Maybe feed the crumbles in the morning so they are hungary

 

[Livia Stouffer]

How old are they? Also, have you ever tried fermented food? All of my birds seem to find the wet food more interesting than pellets or crumbles. And its easier to add in whatever they need in the wet food, or even treats to get them to want it more.

 

[KaleIAm]

Yay about bedtime!! My ducks are pretty serious about bedtime. They get a few mealworms for a little bedtime snack so if I'm running 1 second late they shout/quack their displeasure at me. "Hurry up provider of resources!! Quack quack quack!!!"

I agree, feed them the crumbles right away in the morning before they have access to any other foods. I'd leave them with only the crumbles and water for a half-hour or more if possible until they are gobbling them up reliably.

I recognize that they should be accustomed to eating the crumbles, but maybe this will help anyway. I've had luck getting my ducks to try new foods by mixing the new food with the old food. They pick out and eat only the old preferred food for a couple weeks but eventually they just eat both. So maybe if you put some mealworms or lettuce in with their crumbles they'll accidentally eat some crumbles and decide they are pretty good, too!

 

[mjoal]

How old are they? Also, have you ever tried fermented food? All of my birds seem to find the wet food more interesting than pellets or crumbles. And its easier to add in whatever they need in the wet food, or even treats to get them to want it more.

Oh I forgot to add that, they're 12 weeks old!

 

[mjoal]

Yay about bedtime!! My ducks are pretty serious about bedtime. They get a few mealworms for a little bedtime snack so if I'm running 1 second late they shout/quack their displeasure at me. "Hurry up provider of resources!! Quack quack quack!!!"

I agree, feed them the crumbles right away in the morning before they have access to any other foods. I'd leave them with only the crumbles and water for a half-hour or more if possible until they are gobbling them up reliably.

I recognize that they should be accustomed to eating the crumbles, but maybe this will help anyway. I've had luck getting my ducks to try new foods by mixing the new food with the old food. They pick out and eat only the old preferred food for a couple weeks but eventually they just eat both. So maybe if you put some mealworms or lettuce in with their crumbles they'll accidentally eat some crumbles and decide they are pretty good, too!

Thank-you!! I'll give that try!

 

[Meldup]

My 3 ducks wait till i get all the chickens to bed and then I sing the first verse of a lullaby and then the march to their duck house and I lock them up for the night. They eat damp crumble in the morning as the grumble and complain about whatever went down in the night. Conveniently, I named the biggest complainer Karen

 

[mjoal]

My 3 ducks wait till i get all the chickens to bed and then I sing the first verse of a lullaby and then the march to their duck house and I lock them up for the night. They eat damp crumble in the morning as the grumble and complain about whatever went down in the night. Conveniently, I named the biggest complainer Karen

Oh that made me laugh a lot! Haha I love it!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Successful bed time for ducks is the best feeling.

We had our first Khakis that were just stubborn about it, and putting them up was so rough because they absolutely refused to go into their coop. We built a variety eventually to try and find their comfort zone but they weren’t having it. Fast forward to this group and it started the same, but we clicker trained to make it positive and did a lot of practice of - hey, you went in! Clicker treat. Let them exit again then give them the command and step towards them, then they put themselves up and same thing. Variety of times of day to do this in case we are in the middle of an incoming big storm or in case say there’s some random stray dog and we don’t want to risk it. They got to where the treat was a verbal acknowledgement of a big “Yay! Good job!” And they get all excited carrying on and head bob about it. Forget to say “yay” and they look at you quietly and wonder what’s got you in a mood.

Don’t tell our chickens, but the ducks have more manners lol.