duck gone =(

[schwehmybear]

Its my first year raising ducks, and they are now full grown, I had 5. =( 3 female, 2 male. They are often in a very large pen, thats completly animal proof, but I often let them out a couple hours a day for playing in the sprinkler, getting slugs in the garden, ect.

Between 7-8pm, my male black swedish went missing. I only found two feathers. They were right in the back yard. I looked for the others, and they had ran inside their pen. =( they are making quiet little sounds, like they saw it and are in mourning.
Im sure it was an eagle or an owl, we have both and he was such a large male. =( will I have to only let them out while supervised?

 

[Keah]

Hi,

I am so sorry for your loss, one gone in the flock is one forever missed

I'm not too sure of how you can keep your ducks safe...you can't really control what the hawks and owls do. Maybe put them away a bit earlier than you usually do.
Again sorry for your loss xx

 

[TLWR]

Not sure where you are, but between 7 and 8 here it is starting to get dark, so dusk...
which is when the night time critters come out to snack

I find when I'm missing birds, I end up with chicken feathers, they are plucked easier. The ducks, I never see a trace.

Sorry for your loss. But for now, you are going to want to supervise their free ranging, at least until you know what you are dealing with.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Its my first year raising ducks, and they are now full grown, I had 5. =( 3 female, 2 male. They are often in a very large pen, thats completly animal proof, but I often let them out a couple hours a day for playing in the sprinkler, getting slugs in the garden, ect.

Between 7-8pm, my male black swedish went missing. I only found two feathers. They were right in the back yard. I looked for the others, and they had ran inside their pen. =( they are making quiet little sounds, like they saw it and are in mourning.
Im sure it was an eagle or an owl, we have both and he was such a large male. =( will I have to only let them out while supervised?

I second what @TLWR said about nightfall. You want to make sure your ducks are in a secure enclosure before dusk when the nocturnal predators of all types start to hunt. That can mean ground predators or raptors like owls. Owls are incredibly cool birds but are also extremely dangerous to poultry because some of them can lift several times their own weight, meaning they can carry off even a larger duck that something like a hawk wouldn't bother with because he couldn't lift it.

I really think an owl is the most likely culprit since you didn't see signs of a ground struggle, but there are sometimes very few signs even with ground predators. I can assure you it wasn't an eagle because eagles can't lift a duck as large as a full grown Swedish drake.