Duck drowned in its own pool

[Calebs Acre]

I actually had an adult male call duck drown in his pool a couple of weeks ago. This is a pool he had been using for many months and he had no problems getting in and out. I got him from Dennis at Wapsi Waterfowl and he told me that it DOES happen that ducks can drown for no apparent reason. It was upsetting, to say the least, and I am concerned about his "wife". I am going to try to sell her to someone with a snowy male since I've decided to stick to geese and chickens and give up on ducks. (Big Sigh).

 

[GarryWarren]

Yes I have seen two ducks drown themselves about 8 months apart. The first time it was to far away so I didn't believe what I saw.

The second was in a quite cove with a friend of mine we were fishing, the water was very calm and dried leaves on the bank. We watched three ducks fly in the cove and land, they muddled around a bit like ducks do. One of them 60 or so feet away dove under the water which my friend and I thought he was eating the vegetation under the water like they often do.
Well he did not resurface, My friend and I sat very quite for 5 minutes or so not saying a word to each, by this time we had stopped fishing and was searching the water for any movement, a ripple, a bubble anything resembling life, it never came, we scanned the bank thinking he swam to shore and out. Nothing, the leaves on the bank were very dry we should have heard something. We thought a large bass may have grabbed his head but there should have been a fight of some kind there was nothing.
A minute or so later the other two ducks took flight and left the cove. I have never seen anything like this since that day. It has became a permanent memory in my head. Some time later I did find an article on the web that said in certain conditions a sick duck will drown itself to strengthen the flock by diving down and grabbing a branch or something stationary on the bottom.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes I have seen two ducks drown themselves about 8 months apart. The first time it was to far away so I didn't believe what I saw.

The second was in a quite cove with a friend of mine we were fishing, the water was very calm and dried leaves on the bank. We watched three ducks fly in the cove and land, they muddled around a bit like ducks do. One of them 60 or so feet away dove under the water which my friend and I thought he was eating the vegetation under the water like they often do.
Well he did not resurface, My friend and I sat very quite for 5 minutes or so not saying a word to each, by this time we had stopped fishing and was searching the water for any movement, a ripple, a bubble anything resembling life, it never came, we scanned the bank thinking he swam to shore and out. Nothing, the leaves on the bank were very dry we should have heard something. We thought a large bass may have grabbed his head but there should have been a fight of some kind there was nothing.
A minute or so later the other two ducks took flight and left the cove. I have never seen anything like this since that day. It has became a permanent memory in my head. Some time later I did find an article on the web that said in certain conditions a sick duck will drown itself to strengthen the flock by diving down and grabbing a branch or something stationary on the bottom.

I'm thinking more on the line of a large mouth bass or snapping turtle. pulled it to far under for there to be any sign of fight on the surface. Pardon my manners

 

[dennin7418]

I had a Welshy who I had to chase out of the pond once. She couldn't get out which wasn't normal considering their were rocksto get out and the depth was shallow enough to stand. She died the next day. I'm quite certain if I didn't get her out of the pond she would have died in the pond.

Was your runner healthy?

A duck that age can get out of a pond with or without rocks....they have wings for that kind of thing....

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I had a runner die in the water bucket (5-6gal) which was about half full. I suspect that either a) she got stuck inside the bucket and just gave up, or b) the other ducks held her under (we had unseasonably warm temperatures & we all know what behavior warm weather brings out in our drakes. The death didn't make much sense to me because the water level should have allowed her to stand up in the bucket with no problem. Another reason why I can't wait for winter to end so I can go back to the inverted 5gal bucket waterer!

 

[tbitt]

Runners aren't the best of swimmers anyway. Looks like she probably couldn't get out and probably became waterlogged and exhausted and drowned. I'm very careful to make sure my ducks have a step to get out of the pool.

I bet this is what happened.


I had a year old duck that got herself stuck in the pool. She was in it when we went to get groceries and still in it when we got back 3 hrs later. I felt terrible!!! she was defiantly stuck when I went to get her out she tried to get away but could not get herself out.

The water level had dropped (from them splashing) just enough that she did not have enough "umph' to get herself over the rim.


I got her out and hugged her in a towel until she was dry. She was not so pleased to be held....but I am sure she was glad to be out and dried off.

Sorry you lost your runner!

 

[Jules78]

Hi

• 
  , just today had the same thing happen :-(
  
  Indian running duck too! Now she was in and out for two months, no probs. she was not what you would call a swimmer but she did a good impersonation of it. There are three others with her. When i came in the barn they were just looking at her then me. Quite comical if it were not so sad. Almost like they had drowned her?
  
  Whilst writing this I am wondering if the drake had drowned her his "fun time"
  
  Anyone heard of this?????
  
  Cheers
  
  Jules

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

It is possible that one or more drakes could drown a duck.

 

[StruckBy]

Some time later I did find an article on the web that said in certain conditions a sick duck will drown itself to strengthen the flock by diving down and grabbing a branch or something stationary on the bottom.

Whoever told you this was either completely ignorant about wildlife, or pulling your leg. This is as untrue as hummingbirds riding on the backs of geese or milksnakes sucking milk from a cow.

Ducks do drown in the wild...most commonly from becoming entangled in human debris like lost fishing line, plastic 6-pack rings, etc. A weaker duck is also less likely to successfully evade underwater predators such a snapping turtles.

In captivity drakes are the most common culprit but breeding ducks that are too heavy-bodied for their wings to lift them off the surface of the water & are too panicky to just swim around until they figure out how to get out rather than exhausting themselves happens too. My PekinX who is big, fat, not very smart, & prone to panic would not do well without a ramp. (That's why we eat all of her eggs )