He Everybody,
This morning woke up to a beautiful huge baled eagle perched on the fence post to the chicken run. When people see an eagle in their yard its "wow how majestic." But when you are a poultry owner it's "Oh *bleep*!" Sure enough it had gotten one of my birds. At first thought it was a chicken, the carcass was in the chicken run, went to take it out nope it was a young Welsh Harlequin drake. It got me thinking it has been almost a year since I have lost a chicken to a predator (knock on wood). But I have lost 4 ducks and a dozen ducklings so far this year. All from various birds of prey, hawks, ravens, owls, and now eagles. Both the ducks and chicken runs are right next to each other and are roughly the same size. Seems like a chicken would be just as easy to take as duck. Before I had ducks I would lose the occasional chicken to a bird of prey. Now that I have ducks they seem to be preferred. Not just by birds of prey but a couple years ago we had a bob cat kill 4 ducks and not one chicken.
Makes me wonder if duck is preferred over chicken. One thing chickens have over ducks is a more acute sense of danger. When I came out every chicken was hiding. I find the ducks are not near as predator savvy. Although this morning the ducks where all hiding in and around the pen. Even crammed in the next boxes. Or maybe ducks are more of a natural food. You don't see a lot of wild chickens around but their are plenty of wild ducks. Even other wild birds quail, grouse and pheasant are more gamey and dark, like a duck.
So what do you all think? Is one bird preferred over the other? Whether it's taste or just catchability, maybe both. Remember both my chicken and duck pens are the same. By the way will be fixed very soon. We are in the works of placing netting on both runs. Its going to be large. For both pens we are looking at 2,000 sqf.
Have a happy 4th! And may your chickies have corn on the cob to peck and your duckies water melon rinds to nibble!
This morning woke up to a beautiful huge baled eagle perched on the fence post to the chicken run. When people see an eagle in their yard its "wow how majestic." But when you are a poultry owner it's "Oh *bleep*!" Sure enough it had gotten one of my birds. At first thought it was a chicken, the carcass was in the chicken run, went to take it out nope it was a young Welsh Harlequin drake. It got me thinking it has been almost a year since I have lost a chicken to a predator (knock on wood). But I have lost 4 ducks and a dozen ducklings so far this year. All from various birds of prey, hawks, ravens, owls, and now eagles. Both the ducks and chicken runs are right next to each other and are roughly the same size. Seems like a chicken would be just as easy to take as duck. Before I had ducks I would lose the occasional chicken to a bird of prey. Now that I have ducks they seem to be preferred. Not just by birds of prey but a couple years ago we had a bob cat kill 4 ducks and not one chicken.
Makes me wonder if duck is preferred over chicken. One thing chickens have over ducks is a more acute sense of danger. When I came out every chicken was hiding. I find the ducks are not near as predator savvy. Although this morning the ducks where all hiding in and around the pen. Even crammed in the next boxes. Or maybe ducks are more of a natural food. You don't see a lot of wild chickens around but their are plenty of wild ducks. Even other wild birds quail, grouse and pheasant are more gamey and dark, like a duck.
So what do you all think? Is one bird preferred over the other? Whether it's taste or just catchability, maybe both. Remember both my chicken and duck pens are the same. By the way will be fixed very soon. We are in the works of placing netting on both runs. Its going to be large. For both pens we are looking at 2,000 sqf.
Have a happy 4th! And may your chickies have corn on the cob to peck and your duckies water melon rinds to nibble!
