Homeowners develop interests I’m different domestic animals to keep them as pets. These animals may include dogs, cats, peacocks, and lots more. However, one of the most common domesticated animals are ducks. Keeping them comes with great advantages, but it can sometimes be risky to keep them.
Many often wonder if it is worth keeping a duck in your backyard because they often tend to fly away. Yes, flying away remains one of the problems duck keepers face when keeping them.
Although they are way healthier than chickens when compared, tolerant, and can lay you eggs consistently. They are quieter, especially while on the grass. Despite these exceptional qualities, ducks have one common issue – flying away!
There are many ways for owners to keep their ducks from flying away. This comes with a couple of advantages, ranging from having their eggs within your reach to saving your cash from groceries.
While you may think all ducks tend to fly away, you may be far from the truth. Certain duck species tend to fly. If you got any species that may fly, taming them is possible in many ways. This article will reveal how to keep your ducks from flying away.
6 Amazing Ways To Stop Ducks From Flying Away
1. Wings clipping
Clipping ducks’ wings can restrict them from flying away. One of the wings could be clipped, and they would still be under your control. No bird can fly with just one part of the wing. A balance is always needed to control the direction of winds whenever they fly, therefore, to fly effectively better.
The process involves concentration on some steps to achieve the best results. Check the wings and search for the ones that are usually close to the outer edge. Clipping of the feathers should be done in the middle.
However, do not clip it randomly. Find the best place not close to the sides. The reason for this is that when you clip too close to the wings or the sides, pain is inevitable, and the flow of blood flow might be tempered.
2. Tie heavy objects to the wings
Tying something heavy To The Wing Flaps is another way to tame them from flying. Tieing a bit weighty thing to wings such as a piece of metal or other slightly weighty things would prevent them. To protect them, do not tie too weighty things because they might get injured or die in the process.
Make sure that the things you tie can easily make them move around an enclosure. This would help them have the best comfort and accurate body balance. Using a secured area to rear your ducks is another method to rear ducks without nursing to protect them from running away.
This does not only save them from escaping, but it also prevents any form of becoming prey to either man or other animals. Owners can keep them in coops made of raffia, metal, wood, or ropes. This helps them get adequate access to food, water, and fresh air. When these necessities are provided, they would stay around and be comfortable with the owner.
3. Consistent feeding
Feeding them often is one of the magics that work for easy rearing. The reason is that when they are well-fed, they get used to that environment and would not want to leave. Apart from that, they would be familiar with the owner and love to hang around without much coercion.
Also, feeding them often and well would make them not think about going away from the environment because it will be hard to think that there is something better outside their comfort zone.
4. Care and nurturing
Nurturing them always to return is not too hard to achieve and is another usual way to keep your ducks from flying away. The more they feel comfortable with the environment, the more willing to stay around. To nurture them, these methods are useful.
- Make sure that the coop is well taken care of in cleaning.
- As they grow older, reduce the pampering you give them, nurture them to be more independent, and return to their coops after each day.
- As they grow, make sure that the treatment is reduced only when they come home to roost, this would always compel them to come back home.
- You can also use a rewarding method to compel return. This would be easy by giving the early comers among them grains. By so doing, others would learn to return early as well.
- Create A Friendly Atmosphere With Them
5. Fence demarcation
It is another amazing way to keep ducks close to their owners. This has nothing to do with whether the ducks are the flier’s breed or not. This is because fence demarcation does not prevent them from flying away but protects them from any intruder or predators. Fencing can be done with barbed wire, bricks, or wood.
6. Rear more ducks
Rearing more ducks is of the magic that does it best. Ducks feel better when they move in large numbers. If you want them to stay around, keep large numbers, this will enable them to stay around one another.
Can Ducks Fly Away?
Yes, some can fly away while some can’t; it depends on the breed of duck reared. This one is because it is not all breeds that can fly away. This should be your guide when buying ducks for breeding because it helps to know the best taming them.
Among the flying breeds are Moscow, Mandarin, Bantam Hybrids, etc. The species that are not good at flying include Pekin, Saxony, Runners, and many more. These are the best for taming, especially in where there is no enclosure for rearing them.
However, there are some advantages to both. The non-flying ones have meaty and bigger bodies while the flying ones have less, and this is because they need normal weight to help them fly.
Should You Allow Your Duck To Fly?
It depends on what breed you have gone for and what you also want for the ducks. But most importantly, you may not want to let your ducks fly away if you plan to use them as livestock.
Besides that, they can fall prey to other animals. If the ducks end up flying over to an area where many predator animals are, it could end up disastrous. This makes it essential to ensure your ducks stay within your safely guarded enclosure.
Reasons Why Do Ducks Fly Away
The chances are that your ducks will fly away if they notice any of the following:
1. Inadequate protection or care
Ducks would not fly away whenever they have the best kind of protection and treatment. They love both human and bird interrelationships, and that is why owners must make sure that they are well catered for. Ducks may relocate by flying away if they feel insecure.
2. Food shortage
If they also lack adequate food, they would think of sourcing it elsewhere. When this happens, they might get more excited with the outside world and decide not to return home. Aside from that, they might miss their ways, especially the young ones, and might not come back again.
Ducks, like other birds, love adventures and would not hesitate to have some nice time to themselves. In playing with one another, they might miss their way while doing that and might not return.
Conclusion
With ducks, you must spend a lot of time making them comfortable within your environment. That is the only reason why they will remain with you. Doing everything within your limit to retain them will protect your livestock from harm which is always seen in the outside world.