Duck Behaviour

At the four-week mark, ducks will incubate their eggs. There is a 24-hour period when the eggs hatch. The baby ducks that are born must have a place to cohabitate. Domestic ducks and wild ducks do not mix. 

Ducks are not designed to be potty trained. Sometimes they let it out before they get to that area where they can dump it. As you watch them, you can pick up a pattern. From what they do and when they do it, you will be able to determine when they let it out and place them indoors for that time frame. If you want, you can use disposable diapers (preemies), baggies or a diaper harness.  

With wild ducks, they can be free as a bird to do what they want. With domestic ducks, they are not as free. They have to learn to live a somewhat confined life. They can move around, but it's on a smaller scale that what you would see with wild ducks. Domestic ducks depend on humans to take care of them.

The male ducks can sometimes get aggressive at six months or older. They like to pinch and chase other ducks. You can't allow this to escalate; otherwise, it will get difficult to stop them as time goes by. 

You must be persistent in order to help change their aggressive ways. One thing you can do to get them to stop pinching you is to gently tap your fingernail on the beak and tell them "no". You must be stern and firm, but calm. 

Since ducks are so delicate, you have to be careful on the way you handle them. Don’t be physically rough with them. Some people have said to hold their beak to get them to behave. However, that may not be a good idea since they have to get air. Once you build that trust with your duck(s), they will learn that aggressive behaviour is not the way to go.

You can get them a mate or provide them with an area large enough where they can run around. Make sure to show your duck(s) plenty of affection. It can take a while before they decide to bond with you. 

Another way to build trust with your duck(s) is to feed them from your hand and spend some quiet time with them, like you would your spouse or your child. They will start to realize that you really do care for them a lot.

Do not allow young children to handle the ducks on their own. Either the child or the duck can be injured do to rough play or something similar. Further, children and other groups of people have a greater chance of illness from handling live poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam. Even handling baby birds displayed at stores can cause a Salmonella infection.

Keep ducks of similar breeds together when they are adults. Don’t mix ducks of different breeds to cohabitate together. They may be aggressive towards each other. They can attack other breeds also.

In case of ducklings, different breeds can cohabitate together and understand each other from the age of duckling.