Help for my ducks safety

[tsumm0109]

So glad you brought them in to be safe, that sure was close!
We keep our ducks in the garage at night as well, they like it and we know they are safe. View attachment 1935268
I'm surprised they don't seem afraid with the raccoon so close to their pen, I would pull their pool towards the center of their pen so the raccoon can't reach in and grab them through the fence.
Beautiful ducks btw

I also want to say I love your setup. What lucky ducks.

 

[tsumm0109]

Scary picture with the raccoon so close! My nine runner ducks spend their nights in a 3-foot-by10-foot wood-frame shelter that is literally wrapped like a birthday present in hardware cloth. It has a top-opening door and a side-opening door.

Although some folks don't believe in the effectiveness of Nite Gard flashing solar lights, I have one on each side of the shelter and it makes me feel better.

I once watched a mink run over and around the shelter, with no success in getting in. I also had no success with attacking the mink with a three-tined cultivator, but that's another story.

I’m going to have to get the stuff to put on the bottom and someone said move the pool to the middle so I’m going to do that. I wish I could do a strobe light but my son has special needs and he also has epilepsy. So if he was to look outside and see if it would send him into a seizure. I’m thinking of going and buying a shed for them.

 

[tsumm0109]

And from experience here Raccoons do come around in the day light also. So getting your pen and run safe especially if you live in an area with high raccoon volume is much better. @DuckyDonna and hubs are working on making their run into Fort Knox.

They say healthy raccoons will come out in the day. I have seen them out in the day. So I’m hanging out side with my babies as they play in the pool. If you look into the far corner of the picture you can see the raccoon after I chased it off.

 

[tsumm0109]

If anyone is willing to upload pics of your pens I would really appreciate it. Anything I can do to keep my Lois and Clark safe I would love. Thank you all for taking the time to help me out. It really means a lot.

 

[KaleIAm]

Oh my, that photo with the raccoon is terrifying. I'm so glad you brought them in. It sounds like you really love your ducks. Good job keeping them safe.

I have also seen racoons during the day, you may want to only give your ducks supervised outside time. Our neighbors had a duck who was killed by racoons. The racoons pulled his head through the bars of his coop. I'm sorry, but I wanted you to know what can happen so you can keep it from happening to your ducks.

Have you read Enslaved by Ducks? It's a great book. I believe the author trapped and relocated 8 or 9 racoons before giving up. My point is, even if you relocate the raccoons you see more will come, eventually. You will still need to predator proof your duck enclosure.

 

[tsumm0109]

Oh my, that photo with the raccoon is terrifying. I'm so glad you brought them in. It sounds like you really love your ducks. Good job keeping them safe.

I have also seen racoons during the day, you may want to only give your ducks supervised outside time. Our neighbors had a duck who was killed by racoons. The racoons pulled his head through the bars of his coop. I'm sorry, but I wanted you to know what can happen so you can keep it from happening to your ducks.

Have you read Enslaved by Ducks? It's a great book. I believe the author trapped and relocated 8 or 9 racoons before giving up. My point is, even if you relocate the raccoons you see more will come, eventually. You will still need to predator proof your duck enclosure.

.
I’m predator proofing their cage today. The reason why I am relocating these two is because they came in and got her eggs one night when she was laying on by the platform by their pond. So everything I’ve read says that because they now know there’s food there that it’s best to relocate those two raccoons, because they will continue to keep trying to get to them to get the food. I’m hanging outside with them why the get some much need pool time.

 

[tsumm0109]

Oh my, that photo with the raccoon is terrifying. I'm so glad you brought them in. It sounds like you really love your ducks. Good job keeping them safe.

I have also seen racoons during the day, you may want to only give your ducks supervised outside time. Our neighbors had a duck who was killed by racoons. The racoons pulled his head through the bars of his coop. I'm sorry, but I wanted you to know what can happen so you can keep it from happening to your ducks.

Have you read Enslaved by Ducks? It's a great book. I believe the author trapped and relocated 8 or 9 racoons before giving up. My point is, even if you relocate the raccoons you see more will come, eventually. You will still need to predator proof your duck enclosure.

Thank you for the book recommendation. I will read it. I’m sure telling me about your neighbors ducks wasn’t something you wanted to do but, it’s important to know how deadly raccoons can be.

 

[KaleIAm]

Oh good, it sounds like you are doing everything right to protect your ducks! <3

 

[DuckyDonna]

I have this that I use when the weather gets bad or like when we had the hurricane. View attachment 1935171

This set up is about 1000% better than your present outside area which is cute, don't get me wrong, but for night time you can't keep them in that in any season in my opinion especially since you know you've got predators that would love a nice duck dinner.

If you are going to keep them outside you need to have a structure with 1/2" hardware cloth protecting every bit of it screwed in to the structure with screws and washers so predators can't rip it off because they will. I recently had a friend tell me a raccoon came near his dog pen (like yours) and it grabbed his two ducks and pulled them piece by piece out of the pen. You could even make something out of pallets or other scrap wood but they need shelter from wind, rain, snow and a cozy place to sleep especially with winter coming on.

 

[tsumm0109]

This set up is about 1000% better than your present outside area which is cute, don't get me wrong, but for night time you can't keep them in that in any season in my opinion especially since you know you've got predators that would love a nice duck dinner.

If you are going to keep them outside you need to have a structure with 1/2" hardware cloth protecting every bit of it screwed in to the structure with screws and washers so predators can't rip it off because they will. I recently had a friend tell me a raccoon came near his dog pen (like yours) and it grabbed his two ducks and pulled them piece by piece out of the pen. You could even make something out of pallets or other scrap wood but they need shelter from wind, rain, snow and a cozy place to sleep especially with winter coming on.

We live in Florida. So the weather isn’t a big deal. I just got traps to remove the raccoons. I also got grad wire to put on the bottom of the pen. We are putting blocks down for the pen to go on so they can’t dig underneath it. I also have someone coming out to remove all the underbrush from my yard. We also got some pest control stuff to put down. For now they are coming inside at night till all is safe.