Downtown ducks gone

[jeremyp]

Hi, I am new to the forum, but have viewed it for tips on raising ducks for quite some time.

I had 6 ducks that were 4 weeks old. Their pen is an area surrounded by 6ft fence in my backyard. I also live in a city. Anyways, all 6 of them are gone without a trace. No feathers. Nothing. The gates to their enclosure were closed so no predator could get in and there is no sign of anything burrowing either. . What happened? Do people steal ducks?

 

[sourland]

Sorry for the circumstances. Some people will steal anything.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi, I am new to the forum, but have viewed it for tips on raising ducks for quite some time.

I had 6 ducks that were 4 weeks old. Their pen is an area surrounded by 6ft fence in my backyard. I also live in a city. Anyways, all 6 of them are gone without a trace. No feathers. Nothing. The gates to their enclosure were closed so no predator could get in and there is no sign of anything burrowing either. . What happened? Do people steal ducks?

Hi and welcome - without knowing more about the specifics to the enclosure they were in, it is impossible to say that it was or wasn't a matter of human intervention, for the simple fact that what a lot of people thing is "predator proof" construction is anything but and are quite surprised to learn how easily certain predators can breach their enclosure without leaving a sign of them ever having been there.

 

[Ibicella]

People will steal anything, but there are other animals that live in cities that carry off birds without a trace, like coyotes and foxes.

Is there a way for an owl or a hawk to fly down into their enclosure? Did they all disappear at the same time?

Sorry you couldn't have joined us under more pleasant circumstances. Terribly sorry for your loss.

 

[tcstoehr]

You'll likely never be sure if it was a human or not. But rest assured, wherever you live, there are raccoons about. They can climb any fence you can put up. Even though this doesn't seem like a classic raccoon attack, it could very well have been one or several raccoons. I wish everybody had cameras on their flocks. I don't, but if we all did, we would all know so much more.

 

[thomasboyle]

Very sorry for your loss. I gave some ducks from my flock to my sister to raise, and one night someone went into her fenced in backyard and took two mated ducks from the locked pen.

If you get more ducks (I hope you do) also get a trail camera. They come in 2 types - visible red light (infrared) flash and invisible flash. Since you think you are dealing with people, go for the invisible flash kind. That way they won't see the camera taking pictures, and possibly try and steal the camera too (they sell security boxes to securely mount the cameras) Then you will know exactly what happens in your backyard when you aren't around. You may also find that it was a raccoon or some other natural predator.