Finish the run before the ducks arrive
A duck's first hour in a new home shapes how the first week goes, so have everything built before the crate opens. The fencing needs to defeat digging predators: small-gauge mesh rather than wide chicken wire, with a skirt of mesh buried or folded outward at ground level so a digging animal meets wire, and a covered top if hawks or owls hunt your area. Inside, set the house with dry bedding raised off the ground, fill the drinkers, and fill the pond or bath — ducks explore a new yard by dabbling and bathing, and water they can get straight into turns a strange run into theirs faster than anything else you can offer.
One catch, one journey
Every catch-and-carry is the stressful part for a duck, so arrange the move to happen exactly once. Herd the flock calmly into a corner of the old run rather than chasing individuals around it, and lift each duck with both hands, body supported and wings held gently against its sides — never by the legs, and never by the neck. Settle them together in a ventilated crate or sturdy box lined with straw, flock mates within sight and sound of each other, and travel in the cool part of the day. Put no water in the crate: it will spill within minutes, and wet, chilled ducks travel far worse than briefly thirsty ones.
Water is the welcome mat
Release the flock straight into the finished run and let them find the water. Watch the first hour: every duck should drink, dip its whole head — ducks need water deep enough to clear their nostrils and eyes — and most will be bathing noisily within the morning, which is the surest sign the stress is draining away. A duck that sits hunched and separate, bill tucked and uninterested in the bath, is telling you something and should be watched closely through the day. Show them the house entrance before dusk, scattering a little feed inside, so the first night's shelter is a discovery rather than a puzzle.
Same feed, same corner, same voices
Hold the flock's day constant while the address changes: the same feed from the same kind of dish in the same corner of the run, the same morning and evening order of chores, and the same people doing them. Expect egg laying to dip or pause for some days — laying is the first thing a stressed duck suspends and the last thing she resumes, and its return is a reliable settling report. Establish the dusk routine from the very first evening: ducks walked or called into the house and shut in safe, every night, until walking in at dusk is simply what this flock does in this yard.
When a duck needs a vet
Most moving stress is noise, an appetite wobble, and a few quiet days, but some signs overstep it. A duck that stops eating entirely, breathes with an open bill at rest, cannot keep up with the flock, or is found hiding alone under cover needs a veterinarian promptly rather than another day of observation. Limping that was not there before the journey, or a wing held drooped and trailing, points to a travel injury and deserves the same quick call.
Keeping a flock's details straight across a household is easier when they live in one place, and KinsLe's Family Sharing keeps your ducks' feed notes, laying records, and individual quirks visible to everyone who feeds them during the move.