6 of my ducks are missing with in 3 1/3 hours

[LauraSBale]

Thanksgiving day we went to chucks sister in Washington twp, are friend next store was to lock everyone up, i came come friday about 1:00 i had to work that night, and i couldnt find 6 of my ducks, so i went and asked greg if seen them and locked them up, and said yes, and he let all of them out in the morning, well with in 4 hours 6 are missing and we still can not find them, 2 of them are my new black east indie girls, and my new grey call girl, and 1 of my bei boys, and 2 of my rouen x magpies that i hatched out 7 weeks ago, its like they just vanished in to thin air, no feathers any where nothing, went back in the woods, around the ponds, so i went to work came back home still no ducks, went to work on sat, came home no ducks and still no ducks, we have looked every where,
just weird that 6 ducks can just disapire in 4 hours. my daughters are just besides them selfs.

we have 3 rouen x magpies, that cant fly, and you would think if somthing was to get them, it would have been those 3 since they can fly,

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I just want to make the situation clear in case that helps anyone who could make a good guess at this.

You live in Michigan and have a property with woods and ponds and let your flock of ducks out for the day. Six turned up missing within a few hours, four of of those ducks were capable of flying very well but not the others. No feathers or other evidence of struggle. Did I get that right?

Anybody know what kind of predator attacks in broad daylight and could carry off or eat six ducks without leaving a mess?

 

[mdbokc]

A two legged predator.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Quote:
Makes you wonder, huh?

But is that really the only possibility?

 

[LauraSBale]

Quote:
yep you got it right,

we went looking again yesterday, even went in the corn field,

no feathers no nothing.

and if someone did take them, they new what they wanted, since 3 of them were female, 1 male, and 2, that were about 7 weeks,

 

[houndit]

All my female runners disappeared early this spring. They were in a cage. No evidence. Al that was left was the drakes. It made me wonder as well.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

The reason I think it was a predator (non human) is that your ducks were let out. My ducks won't let me catch them when they are out. I have to bribe and chase everyone in at night.

Unless yours are friendly and let someone just pick them up I would guess a fox or coyote. I lost 4 ducks in one night and 2 geese over a week before I realized it was going to keep coming back for more. There is no way where I live it was a human.

DH has a friend who is a trapper and he said coyote. In fact when he came to reset the traps he had a coyote, skunk, gopher and two racoons dead in the back of his pickup. He had trapped them fairly close by.

You live by the woods and alot of different animals most likely live there. It is getting cold and they may see an easy meal. I saw the coyote here during the day. It was only about 200 yards from the house. I couldn't see it very well so I thought it was a fox but after seeing the dead coyote in the truck I realized that it really was a coyote running around marking its territory at three in the afternoon.
That was before everyone turned up missing.

The trapper said that with coyote you rarely see feathers and they tend to run in packs and then bury the food for later.

 

[LauraSBale]

we do have coyote, but we only hear them at night time,

you think they would have taken the chickens and the other 3 ducks first since they cant fly

 

[gsim]

If you saw one coyote, he has brothers and sisters. You can take that to the bank. A man I know in the next county not 20 miles from here lost 34 chickens in one night to coyotes that got into his barn. No surprise that a relatively small number of birds could be chased away or eaten. If free-ranging anyone can always expect losses, no exceptions ever. It is the price to play the game.

Could be that some will return if they can evade the preds out there. Have heard of that happening as long as a week later. Also have heard of some turning up at neighbor's homes unexpectedly.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

That would be my guess. The trapper also told us we may not see any for awhile. They "make the rounds" but if there is one there are more. And they will most likely come back.

The only thing I can think of to protect your ducks is an electric fence. I would love to have one, just haven't figured out how yet. That would keep them out I have been told.