On the off chance she has cancer, you can politely go get the ducks so she has less of a burden during these trying times. Not that I believe her but it sounds nicer.
I have 3 cats, the flock follows one around when it's outside, they ignore the second one and run from the third. The third cat loves to chase the flock but strictly for sport, he has learned that they can and will fight back.
I had a beautiful gray/blue rooster. He was huge. Not fat, just healthy and tall. He just disappeared. Not a single feather was found. I can't imagine any local birds big enough to carry him off and coyotes and other doglike animals, raccoon and opossum usually leave some evidence...