Yesterday morning I had five ducks, but today I only have four. One of my drakes died under very strange circumstances.
We left the flock by our pond in a wooded area out of our view in the afternoon. They were so happy and basically refused to get out of the water. We took a dinner break and left them unattended. By dusk two drakes returned to the coop and seemed very frightened and wanting to get inside. I put them in with the quarantined duck (she got cold early in the swim and started to shiver) I went down to the pond to find the other two ducks. My second hen was hiding in the brush, and I saw a duck flipper sticking out of the shallow water. I pulled it up and it was the remaining drake. I don’t think I’ll lead them to this pond again.
what the heck happened? He didn’t have any wounds on him. His neck didn’t seem broken. We have had issues with snatch-and-grab predators like foxes, but I would have expected to see evidence of a struggle, and I doubt the fox would have left the body behind. Did my drake drown?? Did another drake kill him? Was it some kind of accident, that he tripped his neck on the pond floor? He was a fully feathered yearling and swam with good stamina.
Poor drake - he seemed to be having the time of his life on the lake until it was suddenly cut short. I didn’t have the will or energy to process him either; I was so upset. So we just buried him in the yard. What a waste, he was 12 pounds live.
I attached a photo of the flock from better days.
We left the flock by our pond in a wooded area out of our view in the afternoon. They were so happy and basically refused to get out of the water. We took a dinner break and left them unattended. By dusk two drakes returned to the coop and seemed very frightened and wanting to get inside. I put them in with the quarantined duck (she got cold early in the swim and started to shiver) I went down to the pond to find the other two ducks. My second hen was hiding in the brush, and I saw a duck flipper sticking out of the shallow water. I pulled it up and it was the remaining drake. I don’t think I’ll lead them to this pond again.
what the heck happened? He didn’t have any wounds on him. His neck didn’t seem broken. We have had issues with snatch-and-grab predators like foxes, but I would have expected to see evidence of a struggle, and I doubt the fox would have left the body behind. Did my drake drown?? Did another drake kill him? Was it some kind of accident, that he tripped his neck on the pond floor? He was a fully feathered yearling and swam with good stamina.
Poor drake - he seemed to be having the time of his life on the lake until it was suddenly cut short. I didn’t have the will or energy to process him either; I was so upset. So we just buried him in the yard. What a waste, he was 12 pounds live.
I attached a photo of the flock from better days.
