Duck went missing!

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So we think she was taken by a hawk. Any advice for trying to keep hawks away? We don’t want to start locking them up all day and only letting out for a few hours at the end of the day. They’ve been locked up during the day all of last week while we worked, but allowed them to free range this weekend while we were home. We plan on locking them up for another week. But hoping to let them back to free ranging while we’re gone eventually. I know hawks are harder to deter.

Do you have crows in your area? - If yes, befriend with them, feed them, offer them spots to build their nests. They will chase away almost any bird of prey. The poor hawks that accidentally fly into our valley are being dive-bombed and harassed until they fly away. Sadly their nesting season is over now and some of them have left the area, so i saw some bops circle around.
Another thing that may help is reflecting tape like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074HZ1S99/?tag=backy-20
I have it on top of all my fences and between some of the trees, so far no bop attack. But i also have two watch-drakes alerting the flock when something suspicious is in the air.

 

[Quackattack717]

I know it really hurts. If you missed it in the state thread, all four of my 12-ish pound ducks went missing during the day one at a time. I thought they were on nests until I knew they were not.
Four ducks, two roosters and three hens. Gone. I rarely have issues even without closing the coop at night. I only began having aerial attacks last year, and never anything over about eight weeks. I’m told this string was likely canine. I just know I had to quickly get a run up, and I am finishing up a chicken hatch this week. I doubt I will restart with ducks.

That is so terrible. I don’t want to lose anymore. We are still so upset about losing Spunky and Shadow is handling it pretty hard. Hoping she will move on though...

We just don’t want to take free ranging away from them. I don’t think we realized how attached we’d get and how terrible losing them to predators would be.

 

[BullChick]

I hate taking it away too. I was down to one Pekin. I skipped free range for several days, and finally let them out around four. By six I was duck-less. Gotta lock ‘em up.

Did you know you can throw together tunnels? Think PVC pipes (they do arch), deer netting, and zip ties.
or...

 

[Anime2lover]

That is so terrible. I don’t want to lose anymore. We are still so upset about losing Spunky and Shadow is handling it pretty hard. Hoping she will move on though...

We just don’t want to take free ranging away from them. I don’t think we realized how attached we’d get and how terrible losing them to predators would be.

Hawks and birds of prey are opportunists. If theres easy prey they will take it. A way to deter them is simply to lock up their food source, in this case your ducks. Doesnt have to be permanent, only until you no longer see it around.

We have a flashing light ob our coop that seems to work for night predators like the coyotes and foxes that come right up on our yard. But for birds, you could maybe put up decoys like other birds of prey??? Sorry about the loss of your pets.