duck killed

[mouse]

This summer, I adopted two Pekins who had been purchased as Easter ducklings last year by someone who cou;dn't bear the mess they made in her yard when they were grown. They were a bonded pair. We named them Dagwood and Dumpling. We built them a very secure 8 x 4 house right next to our house, with a fenced yard and a kiddie pool.

We had been keeping them in their house this week because it's been so bitterly cold. Wednesday, when I went to check on them, I found Dagwood dead, with his head missing, and Dumpling standing next to him, with the back of her head all bloodied, and in shock. My first thought was that a predator had gotten in, but the only way anything larger than a rodent could have gotten in would be if something chewed through the floor. (We haven't removed the bedding yet to check whether that's a possibility.) The door has metal latches at the top and bottom, and if I pull on it as hard as I can, I get less than an inch gap. The windows have chicken wire over them, and over that, framed in plastic panes. There has been no breach, unless someone chewed through the floor, and so far there's no sign of that.

Someone who raises ducks told us that Dagwood probably got overly aggressive with Dumpling, and that she killed him and ate his head. Is this possible? And if it is, would it be safe to get her a female companion after she heals?

BTW, we have Dumpling in the house until she recuperates. We are treating her with oral and topical antibiotics, and putting her in a tepid bath several times a day. She is regaining strength.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I wouldn't think the bird did it. I have never heard of that. I also, however, do not have ducks....but that just seems out there to me.

I wish you were posting under better circumstances!

 

[DuckLady]

Sounds like a raccoon. Another duck wouldn't do that.

A Raccoon will reach their little hands through the tiniest hole as small as one inch and do that sort of damage.

I am so sorry you lost Dagwood.

 

[mouse]

I know raccoons can be extremely wily, but both ducks would have had to put their heads up near the crack around the door, which is on one of the short sides of the 4' by 8' duck house, and not the end where the ducks slept - they always slept at the far side, away from the door. The raccoon would not have been able to see what he was doing, either. It is pretty much impossible to imagine that anything, even a raccoon, could have done that from the outside.

I feel really sick about this. Dagwood was so very sweet. Nursing Dumpling has kept me busy, but now Dagwood's death is really starting to hit.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Any place where the raccoons could have gotten a hand through the chicken wire? It does sound like a predator.

 

[DuckLady]

The thing is that ducks don't sleep all night like chickens do.

It is very likely they heard the raccoon scratching around and went to investigate. Raccoons are quick and their claws are sharp.

I will spare you the details of what happened to a duck I hand raised and thought I found a good home for. But suffice it to say the circumstances were similar to yours and I got a first hand account of the entire thing.

 

[nzpouter]

post a pic of your duck enclosure + mark out where you found the dagwood.

 

[PlumTuckered]

Two years ago my Husband saw a raccoon reach through the chicken wire fence, grab a 3 week old chick and bite it's head off. Yes it sounds like a raccoon got to your ducks. I'm so sorry about your drake. Yes you can get another girl to keep your lady company. In the meantime give her a mirror to keep her company.

Michelle

 

[mouse]

The ducks were in the house, not the enclosure. The house is 4' by 8'. It has two windows on one long side, both of which are covered with chicken wire, and for the winter, they have plastic panes, set in wood frames, screwed over the windows. Nothing can reach in or get through them. They have no gaps, and they have not been messed with. The walls are double walls, with insulation in between. The door overlaps the wall by a couple of inches, and has metal latches on the top and bottom of the side opposite the hinged side. I can stick my fingers between the door and the wall up to their base, but the gap is too thin for the knuckles at the base of my fingers to wedge through, and I have small hands. When I have my hand wedged as far as it will go between the door and the wall, I can just barely feel the edge of the door opening. That's why I have difficulty believing anything was able reach in and get both ducks.

At first, I thought a weasel had gotten in, but I don't know whether even a weasel could get through a gap thinner than an inch. Also, the fact that Dumpling survived makes it less likely, I would think, that it was a weasel - they're such wanton killers.

The other thing that is puzzling me, as well as worrying me, is why a predator wouldn't go after the chickens first. Their house is quite a distance back from ours, is close to a hundred years old, and would be much easier to get into by a determined predator, since the wood is somewhat fragile with age.

 

[mouse]

A mirror - that is a good idea. I know that she is sad and lonely, but her head needs to heal before I can risk having her around a new duck.