You might think that all ducks LOVE water, but weirdly enough, we finally put the ducks into their new enclosure by the pond with much anticipation to see them swimming. The ducks steadfastly refused to even go near the water. HMMMM.
We caught 2 of them and threw them into the pond….they freaked out! then quickly ran flapping their wings on top of the water back to the others ON LAND. I thought that also part of the problem is maybe they didn’t recognize it as water because our pond is brownish because it’s fed by runoff. So I took their little kiddy pool they swam in when they were in the chicken enclosure and put it in the pond right on the edge hoping they would recognize it and think” hey! that’s what we swim in”.We thought that maybe it was just the change of enclosures that had them so scared of exploring and surely, in a day or two they would get brave enough and explore the water. Well, they’ve been in there for about 2 weeks now and still have not gone into the water.
Who ever heard of ducks that won’t go into the water?
10/21/18 UPDATE!!! THEY SWIM!!! It took them weeks and weeks of walking around the pond. Then we found them standing knee deep (do ducks have knees…??). And now they are actually being ducks, swimming all day and enjoying life in their own personal pond! SUCCESS on the farm! We have ducks that swim. (little victories mean so much!)