Ducks are easily stressed, the smallest of things can stress a duck, loud noises can be stressful to a duck so can a change of environment, predators in the area, harsh lighting, and a whole host of other things.
If your duck is stressed there are a couple of ways to calm the bird down. This article explores how to calm a duck.
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How to calm a duck:
Calming a duck is very simple but requires patience and gentleness, here is how you can calm your stressed duck:
Give the bird treats:
We all love treats, ducks included. Giving the bird treats will make the bird more comfortable with being around you and the bird will start to develop a positive association with you the more you do this.
Ducks enjoy getting treats like sliced watermelon, spinach, strawberries, grapes, peas, mealworms, cabbage, cucumbers, kale, carrots, sweetcorn, reddish, and carrots.
When giving the bird treats, avoid towering over them, this can stress the bird even more, rather go down to their level and offer them treats from your hand.
You can even start off by leaving the food on the floor and giving the bird room to come and get it itself.
Give them a friend:
Ducks are quite social animals but not so social with humans, in fact, these birds can become stressed and very agitated when around humans, especially when they are around humans that they don’t know or like.
You can calm a duck by getting it around other ducks. Having two or more ducks together will make them feel less alone and calm them down. Leaving a duck alone with no one will make it even more traumatized.
If you can’t give the bird a friend, then you can place a mirror where the bird is to make the bird think that there are other ducks with it in its environment.
Pet them:
If your bird is comfortable enough to be around you, but is stressed, you can pet the bird. When petting, stroke with the feather grain never against the feather grain also, softly talk to the bird as you do this.
You’ll know that this is working if the bird is not struggling or gasping as you do this. You can pet the bird as it is sitting down, this will help the bird calm down
When petting the bird make sure to move slowly and stay calm. Do not try to lunge or run after the bird to get ahold of it, simply get close to it, sit or kneel beside it and pet it without holding it.
Also, try to pet the duck in a warm dimly lit room, this will help the bird calm down.
What to avoid:
When trying to calm a duck down avoid picking the bird up. We may enjoy picking ducks up and cuddling them but doing this can be quite stressful to these birds and will make them even more skittish around you.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: What Can I Give My Duck For A Cough?, Duckling Is Coughing After Eating, Baby Duck Not Eating Or Drinking, Duckling Is Sneezing, Why Do Ducks Leave A Pond?