Duck Herding Activities

What Is Duck Herding Team Building?

This popular and fun team-building challenge is based on the legendary BBC TV series, One Man and His Dog, where shepherds compete to herd their sheep. It is a fun, unpredictable and often hilarious task where communication and teamwork skills are challenged to the max. Duck herding is also a great team-building activity as part of our Country Pursuits events or Multi-Activity Day experience.

Unlike traditional sheepdog trials, duck herding uses Indian Runner ducks because they are much easier to manage while still providing a fun and rewarding outdoor challenge. Under the guidance of our professional, award-winning shepherd and experienced sheepdog handler, you'll learn how to work with a highly trained border collie to guide the ducks around the course.

Fun, challenging and immensely popular, this outdoor task is perfect for corporate events and has become a cult activity in recent years. It requires no previous experience, making it suitable for teams of all abilities. It is particularly popular for being a great leveller, taking between one and two-and-a-half hours and being suitable for between 60 and 100 guests.

How Does a Duck Herding Activity Work?

With a shepherd’s crook in hand, our experienced sheepdog handler will provide expert tuition to your team. They'll quickly learn to control a well-trained border collie to guide a lively gang of Indian Runner ducks around the obstacle course. Your duck herding activity will typically follow these stages:

• Briefing & Tuition: Your team will receive an introduction before learning how to work with a well-trained border collie using simple commands and guidance from an experienced handler.
• The Challenge Begins: The ducks are released from their pen. The first few seconds are critical, as the ducks will sense their freedom, so trusting your dog and providing clear instructions is key to guiding them through tunnels, down slides and around the obstacle course.
• Team Challenge: Working together, participants will take turns directing the border collie while communicating with one another to complete the course as efficiently as possible.
• Timed Activity & Scoring: Teams are timed as they complete the challenge, with scores based on their performance, encouraging friendly competition throughout the event.
• Bringing the Ducks Home: Once you’ve got one duck through, the rest tend to follow, but occasionally one will play up, adding to the comedy. It's all part of what makes duck herding team building such a memorable and entertaining experience.

What’s included?

Every aspect of our duck herding challenge is taken care of and includes the following elements as standard:

• Pre-event and onsite management
• Professional shepherd, trained border collie and Indian Runner ducks
• Bunting and obstacles
• Winners' medals
• £5 million public liability insurance

Alongside the activity itself, our experienced team provides professional tuition, a safety briefing and a live duck herding demonstration before the challenge begins, ensuring everyone knows what to expect. We also manage the scoring and overall coordination of the event.

The duck herding activity is a lighthearted yet impactful way to strengthen relationships and enhance team performance. Teams looking for an energetic, captivating and competitive task often choose it, and works well as part of our larger Country Pursuits event too.

Why Duck Herding Is Great for Team Building

Our popular duck herding team building activity offers a fun, memorable way to build teamwork and communication. Participants guide ducks through obstacles, working together to strategise and solve problems. It builds leadership, patience and adaptability while creating a positive, inclusive team dynamic. Skills this activity helps sharpen include:

• Communication: Teams must communicate clearly to guide the ducks and adapt to changing situations.
• Leadership: Members naturally step up to coordinate the group and make quick decisions.
• Delegation: Success comes from assigning responsibilities and trusting each teammate to deliver.
• Planning: Teams must think ahead and develop a strategy before putting it into action.
• Adaptability: Unpredictable ducks mean no two challenges are the same, so teams must adjust on the fly.
• Decision Making: Teams must make quick calls together towards a common goal.
• Problem Solving: Unexpected moments demand creative thinking and teamwork to overcome.

Duck Herding Locations

Where’s best to enjoy our duck herding activity? We understand that the choice of venue is often instrumental to the success of an event, which is why we provide our clients with a complimentary venue-sourcing service as part of our duck herding team building package.

Whether you're hosting a conference, team-building event or employee away day, finding you the best-fit for your business and team is always at the heart of our approach. We can source, negotiate and manage your event from conception through to delivery and ensure the perfect location for your event.

With nationwide coverage, we can deliver our duck herding activity at a wide range of outdoor venues across the UK, making it an excellent choice for businesses looking to combine team building with fresh air and open space.