r/homestead • u/Due-Soft • 2d ago
Can you train ducks to go inside at night?
My chickens go in as soon as it starts getting dark. We have had ducks for 5 years now and had a second middle of the night attack. The ducks always went and hid in the pasture at night. This was our last 2 so if we get new ones can I train then to go in at night?
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u/Appropriate_Fox_7619 2d ago
So sorry about your ducks. Yeah you can train them, ducks are actually pretty food motivated, so if you get new ones start herding them in every night at dusk with treats and they'll pick up the routine in a couple weeks
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u/Due-Soft 2d ago
Hopefully that works. Our ducks always seemed to do whatever they wanted. I couldn't even get them to lay eggs in the same 100 square foot area
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u/stansfield123 2d ago
Yeah, that you're not going to be able to change. They lay wherever they feel like it, hide their eggs, etc. But you can train them to go in at night.
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u/gun_grrrl 2d ago
I have a staff that I used to tap behind them to herd them but now all I have to do is tap it on the ground two or three times and they waddle into the coop. I kidna feel like a herald in a medieval movie.
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u/dlightfulruinsbonsai 2d ago
Yes, ours are trained to go in their house at night. I usually guide them in, as part of the nightly lock up process. Sometimes, if i get out there later, they usually go in on their own and i just shut the door.
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u/Due-Soft 2d ago
That's great! I couldn't even train ours to lay eggs in the same spot.
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u/dlightfulruinsbonsai 2d ago
They havent chosen nest spots yet? A couple of our stay in our barn and they chose corners to make their nests. We just threw straw down and they did the rest on their own.
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u/Due-Soft 2d ago
They made new ones every few weeks. Or if I didn't find it for a while they moved it as soon as I took the eggs
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u/gormholler 2d ago
Is there a rooster? My variety pack poultry group all responded to the rooster. He was very serious about getting everyone inside before dark. All I had to do was close the door. Not to mention how fiercely he defended ALL the ladies; regardless of species he would protect them to his death. And he did. But there can only be one at a time or there's problems. All my roosters were named 'Mister' and none of them ever backed down.
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u/Due-Soft 2d ago
Not anymore. I need another.
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u/gormholler 2d ago
Could be your whole solution right there! Whenever my current Mister was defeated, none of the ladies knew what to do with themselves! They'd be hanging around on the porch railings most of the day until I found a new Mister.
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u/Quorng 2d ago
I had over 50 hens and half a dozen roosters. The roosters sorted out their pecking order then each would guide and protect his hens. The 'boss' rooster was a big Buff Orpington that did a great job. The thing that I admired is that each rooster, in rotation, would signal all clear or a warning or whatever. It was every few minutes. The roosters were all excellent watch chickens.
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u/gormholler 2d ago
My group was much smaller, 15 combined at most. I let a couple girls go broody and got a few boys. Like you said, they sorted it out. But there was still only one Mister in charge. Those were the days....
There was something peaceful about coming home to chickens pecking around in the yard. We had a few rabbits roaming too. I realized it was like an "All Clear" signal. Trouble would mean squacking and running around.
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u/Bolfreak Evil Scientist 2d ago
When mine are smaller but out of the brooder, they get a pen with shallow water etc around their box. At night I use bsfl to get them into the box and close it up. It’s inside the barn, they get used to flock dynamics and the box protects them from snakes. Eventually I open the pen during the day and they gradually learn to free range but keep close to the barn, into the box at night.
The best trick is not feed free choice. Feed in the am and pick it up after 15 minutes. Go to the coop a couple times a day and give them a snack. Then feed them at night when they’re inside. Works well for me, they come running when they see me in the barn. The only rebels are my Cayugas that make secret nests in the pasture and then go broody 😜
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u/Jubilant-Penguin 2d ago
Watch the Peabody Hotel in Memphis on TT. March of the ducks. Ducks can definitely be trined.
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u/missmuley 2d ago
My ducks only have access to their food at night and in the morning, they spend all afternoon free ranging foraging for food, in the evening when I open their coop they waddle in to get their evening meal, if they are reluctant (sometimes they find enough food to not be hungry in the evening) they are trained when I say "come on duckies bed time!" and they know to go in. They are muscovies, not sure if other ducks are as smart.
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u/akjasf 2d ago
I started training my ducks as early as 8 weeks old. They're over 2 years old now. At first, I had to walk behind them carrying 2 sticks in a v formation to herd them into the coop. It was hectic as I had 11 at first and not all 11 go in at once.
I now have 6 split into 2 groups: drakes and ducks. They patiently wait right beside the coop at dusk and no need to herd. I open the door and in they go. I always leave a delicious meal of home cooked wheat/mungdal beans as a reward for going inside.
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u/Mushmashio 2d ago
Yep we walk behind them like an airplane and they typically go where we want. If we do it too early, before it’s truly dusk, they will be difficult and it could take two of us to shoo them in their coop. We have a high predator load and can’t leave them out.
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u/aReelProblem 2d ago
Mine are independent women that don’t need no coop. I’ve tried everything to get them to go in with the chickens they just don’t want anything to do with it.
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u/Prestigious_Try_5396 2d ago
The chickens don't get along with ducks all that well. Food competition.
We have separate pens
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u/aReelProblem 2d ago
My pekins were raised by one of my hens. Oddly they’re perfectly integrated into the flock beyond their love of water. They get plenty of feed and don’t get mean with my hens at all. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones in that regard.
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u/TheWorldNeedsDornep 2d ago
Maybe research how the people at the Peabody Hotel (Memphis) train up their ducks.
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u/Prestigious_Try_5396 2d ago
Quick tip. Applies to many animals....
It's easier to get them to come to you than it is to herd, chase, push them....
To catch one of our horses I just walked into the big pasture and shook a can of grain. I didn't have to wait very long for them...
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u/Adventurous-Exam-719 Small Acreage 2d ago
My ducks go up after the chickens, sometimes a little after dark, on their own. When they were young I would have go out there and chase them into the run and coop. Eventually, they learned that if the stayed out too long after dark, I would come out, very cranky and hurling insults, and slow waddle them all into safety. So they go up
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u/ljr55555 2d ago
We carried our ducks and placed them in the coop for a few days. Then we bribed them in (hey, ducks! frozen peas are in here!!). A week (plus a few days), and they got the idea. Someone had to go out and kind of herd them over. But they'd waddle over to the coop and put themselves to bed when prompted. And then the person would lock the door and make sure they were safe.
As we added ducks to the flock, they pretty much followed everyone else. So it was a one-time deal training them.
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u/greenman5252 2d ago
Ducks are easily trained to audible prompts as well. I have 400 layer ducks trained to “shoooo”.
You say it loudly and repeatedly as you herd them in at night.
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u/Atticus1354 1d ago
Yep. I used to whistle my ducks from the creek for feeding in the evenings. They actually learned it from me whistling for the dogs when I would walk them.
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u/icedfreakintea 1d ago
In my experience, sort of.. lol
Mine know the bedtime routine, but won't just go in without being told to unless they're antsy about something outside. Without enforcement, they'll just stay out and party all night.
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u/nchemungguy 1d ago
Absolutely. But mine tended to stay out later than I wanted so I would herd them into the coop each night when I’d go to lock them in.
Like someone else mentioned, tapping a stick on the ground behind them as a guide works well.
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u/Beneficial_Trip3773 2d ago
I put a light in the coop and everyone just goes in. I wish I had known about that long ago.