Ducks not staying at pond. Help!

I have four Khaki Campbell ducks I took in from someone that had too many and I have an enclosure for them near my house but now that they are full grown it's too small for them to be in full time.  I have been taking them to a nearby large natural pond on the property and at first when I took them in the morning they would stay until about 5pm before finding their way home and want to be let back in. In the last week or so I take them to the pond and they come back almost immediately. I've tired feeding them there and completely refusing to feed them at the house. My long term plan was to have them live entirely off of what they can forage which they appear to have no problem finding.

I was thinking that they are just trying to manipulate the system and see if they get more food if I take them back to the pond.

What are your long term goals for said ducks:

A) Pets,
B) Wild creatures, or
C) Dinner?

George Yacus wrote:What are your long term goals for said ducks:

A) Pets,
B) Wild creatures, or
C) Dinner?

They are my children's pets but they are too messy to keep near the house and being that we live off of rainwater it's hard to keep a pool filled expecially as often as I have to change the water. They are happy at the pond and I want them to live as naturally as possible but I think I may have spoiled them early on and now they expect to be served food regularly.

Your assumption is correct. We keep the food in our garage and you can find the animals in there all the bloody time. Makes my husband SO MAD. He just yells at us not to feed them anywhere outside the barn area so they never expect food at the house.

Would also be curious if there is cover at the pond? My ducks often hang out in the shade under overhead cover of some type. They don't stay in at the water all day, but are constantly moving back and forth between our water and potential bug hiding spots.

Also curious, does the pond have food/life in it? I do sometimes see ponds that are fed by too much agricultural run-off and are wet deserts, with much life than I would expect to see.