[Carshay]

I brought my 4 runner ducks home on monday and have had trouble getting them in their house at night. I have had asistance for the last two nights but am on my own tonight. In fact last night in spite of there being two of us 1 duck did a Houdini act over the compost heap and disappeared into next doors hedge! By then it was dark so we ended up leaving her and luckily she was back in my garden this morning. We have been gently trying to herd them with bamboo canes but they still get very stressed. They came from a large flock of ducks and are this years hatch so I don't think they have had any close contact with people. What I need to know is if they (and me!!) get too stressed tonight is it better to leave them out or keep trying? Hopefully as they get more used to me they will be easier to get in. I'm gradually getting them used to me but they don't let me get too close before they start quacking and looking restless. I think I'm getting a little more trust from them and tempt them with food and don't want them to get more scared of me again tonight. So any advice very gratefully received. I have chickens but they are in a big run and have never seen any sign of foxes but that doesn't mean there aren't any!

[min200]

Keep putting them away they do get the hang of it in the end!

Mine took a couple of weeks!  Put a torch in the coop turned on as they will head for the light as well. 

My runners will still only come close to me when I am digging in fact they are so close then Im surprised one hasnt lost a head!  Otherwise they are not overly fussed about our company and we hatched them!

Keep at it in a few weeks this will all be a distant memory!

[Carshay]

Thanks for the encouragement! I've just built a very heath robinson pen for them so they are enclosed more for a few weeks to get acclimatised and they seem to quite like it! Perhaps the garden was a bit too big and scary altho they had been living in a ginormous field!

[min200]

Mine are in a pen for most of the day and get let out for an hour or so a day and it doesnt do them any harm!

[Sassy]

Keep at it it will get easier. You need to devise strategies that work for you and your set up. We used to put sheets of wood either side of their house in order to help guide them in, otherwise they just disappeared round the sides of the house. it now takes seconds to put them away. One of the mistakes we made initially was crowding them but it is hard to get it just right. Good luck they are worth it