Disappearing ducks :(

[1lpoock]

I've had chickens just disappear, but they were little and I think hawks were the problem...but I don't think a hawk would try to get a full grown duck? Maybe I'm wrong...

 

[keeperofthehearth]

4 mo. old pekins are not small. Those are big ducks. You said your ducks were there when you got home fm work and then they were gone about an hour later. Clarify please - Were all of them gone at about the same time or was it over a few day period?

 

[lnm03]

I got home from work at 5:45 pm and I go out every night around 7 to make sure everyone is in for the night and the 6 babies were gone and one was hurt but still there. So I have my fully grown pekin female two 4mo old pekins one of which can hardly walk. I too believe its possibly a someone but I don't know.... we have 2.5 acres and no pond i fill kiddy pools for them. two of our neighbors have ponds so we went walking to see if they ventured out but no sign of them anywhere!

 

[WadeMD]

Foxes and coyotes will grab waterfowl on the run and not stop. At best, a few feathers might be left behind... my Uncle's flock vanished due to a single fox in the course of a week. It knew not to be seen on the property, so around 8-9am, it would come barreling out of the woods at full speed, nail a bird and vanish into the woods with it. Far too fast to do anything about and almost no sign of it happening - only happenstance that he saw it occur.

 

[Wifezilla]

I don't think a hawk would try to get a full grown duck? Maybe I'm wrong

You're wrong. I lost 2 adult ducks to a hawk.​

 

[zephyrcreek]

My thought is fox also. I lost many ducks last year to foxes. Mine do not free range now unless they are full grown and can fly. I'm hoping to annd a dog to protect them soon.

 

[leishajane]

I have lost a small Plymouth barred Rock (3 mos old), a full grown male jumbo pekin and a full grown male Muscovy. Just GONE. No feathers, no signs of struggle. I'm home all day long and haven't heard any unusual noises or seen anything. Yesterday, my full grown Rhode Island Red Roo disappeared. They're free ranged during the day and put up at night. By 4:30 pm they are all at my back door quacking and crowing and making a fuss for their food and to be locked up (they eat dinner in their large pens.) These birds have not been there in the afternoon when it is time to be locked up but where there when I had let them out at 7 am that morning. Only the 3 month old is small, the rest are VERY large birds. I don't understand. We have 10 acres, fenced, with a wooded pond area at the back. The baby chicken and the Roo usually spend the day in front of the house in the large cleared field, usually in very visable areas. The ducks all spend the day in the pond behind the house. I've not really ever seen the chickens at the pond so for two of each breed to just vanish when they are in two different areas of the property is really confusing and worrying for me. I have a donkey and a pony who usually are in the area where the roos are too... I'm just thoroughly confused. Any thoughts?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have lost a small Plymouth barred Rock (3 mos old), a full grown male jumbo pekin and a full grown male Muscovy. Just GONE. No feathers, no signs of struggle. I'm home all day long and haven't heard any unusual noises or seen anything. Yesterday, my full grown Rhode Island Red Roo disappeared. They're free ranged during the day and put up at night. By 4:30 pm they are all at my back door quacking and crowing and making a fuss for their food and to be locked up (they eat dinner in their large pens.) These birds have not been there in the afternoon when it is time to be locked up but where there when I had let them out at 7 am that morning. Only the 3 month old is small, the rest are VERY large birds. I don't understand. We have 10 acres, fenced, with a wooded pond area at the back. The baby chicken and the Roo usually spend the day in front of the house in the large cleared field, usually in very visable areas. The ducks all spend the day in the pond behind the house. I've not really ever seen the chickens at the pond so for two of each breed to just vanish when they are in two different areas of the property is really confusing and worrying for me. I have a donkey and a pony who usually are in the area where the roos are too... I'm just thoroughly confused. Any thoughts?

This time of year preds are at their worst, their normal food is in short supply so they are much braver, I have Muscovy so it would have to be a large pred like a coyote or Human to carry off an adult Muscovy drake. A Pekin also. I am not sure a fox could take an adult drake of those 2 breeds. Bob cats maybe but I'm thinking you'd see blood or feathers but to just pick them up with out a trace makes me think coyote or dog 10 acres is alot of ground and preds could hide out and just wait to pick something off. Very sorry for your losses. A hawk could carry off a 3month old with out a trace.

 

[nayeli]

I hope that they just got further from home and lost or scared and you can find them ! I can't believe people steal ducks!! SMH some people!

 

[creaturelife]

i m lucky i have found nothing missing this year but one duck she went away then came back after 3 days i clipped her wings after that but i also have geese around the duck coop so they will sound the alarm when some thing or some one comes to close and i use lights in my coops to keep away any thing that does not like light and most of the dogs that come around run from my geese and mostly this year every one has are keeping the dog locked up after i told them if they kill any thing then i will call the pound last year i lost 7 turkeys and 11 ducks and 5 chicken to all the dogs running around here so i cant have that