Ducks that don't Die Horribly?

[Crazy Chicken Keeper]

Your kidding aren't you!!!

Nope. I wish I was. My latest batch however are 3 weeks old and haven't lost one yet

 

[Jenbirdee]

In 12 years of keeping Ducks, I have never had any touched by a predator! I praise the Lord!
We’ve had a few diseases, but I still have several Ducks alive and doing well that are over 10 years old now, and one of them even laid an egg a couple days ago lol
Thank you, Jesus.

 

[KathiQuacks]

I haven’t had my birdies long enough for that, yet.

But, we just passed the 2 year mark with no tragedies! And, I’m currently working on building a new, secure duck coop. AND my eldest boy is approaching 8 years of age. So.. Good chances, I hope, in the coming years, I’ll get to see him pass naturally.

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

But sometimes its a little depressing just how many posts are about ducks being torn to shreds by predators or wasting away from mystery disease.

Not that ducks are fragile creatures, but good layers - specifically - can be : indeed, these hens' body can be so exhausted by laying continually that some of the girls end up damaging their working ovary, and sometimes dying because of that...

There also have the ones that are born with unnoticeable health conditions, such as heart failure for example.
These ones are just unlucky, and can "die suddenly" - at least without any pain...

I had one that I stood on as a duckling, one killed by savage older ducks, 3 eaten by wild cats, 1 eaten by hawks - these are all ducks under 3 months old my duck hatching hasn't been good for me.

Oh I got one! The pig pulled out the plus to the heat plate and one died to death from cold. Left 3 ducklings, 2 of which drowned in the pond when they escaped as they didn't have their full waterproof feathers, and it was a rainstorm. And the last one was the one I mentioned before, at 3 months old kkilled by savage older ducks.

There!

Woooow...
...I am so happy to not be you...!

I had :
• some ducklings that had accidentally been crushed to death by the chicken hens that had hatched their eggs;
• one duckling that had died from fright during a storm;
• one duckling killed by what I had assumed to be a rat... but that I am now wondering more and more if it is not actually his chicken mom that is guilty...?

Every one of these deaths has badly affected me, but God do I feel lucky compared to you...!

Waiting for eggs from the hen but I'm also still debated on if I should just eat them both.

Khaki Campbell are the best layers ever, so you could want to keep yours for their eggs?

► My one-year-old Khaki Campbell duck hen is born in 2024, but has started laying eggs end of January...
...she has then stopped laying end of October...
...but has started AGAIN mid-November, after a 3-weeks pause!

And she is STILL laying now...!

I honestly was not expecting my KC girl to lay so many eggs, even if the hens are renowed to lay more than 300 eggs per year...