How to mourn?

[sierraforest]

I have 5 ducks but I’ve never had a duck pass away yet. I’ve heard from many sources that ducks do mourn. I’m not sure watching you bury Connie will help Julie but if you’d like to do it to comfort you go for it. You could get another female.... Julie might bond again to it and your drake-to-hen ration is off now anyways. I know how much a person can love a duck and I’m truly so sorry about Connie.

Thank you so much for your kind words, they're much appreciated. Our two remaining ducks are girls so it's good that we won't have any drake-related issues : ) but we are already worrying about what will happen the next time, because we might make a big move at some point and would hate to be in a position where we'd even have to consider finding them a new home...I'm getting ahead of myself though and shouldn't stress over what-ifs. Thank you again.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

Of course! I’m so glad you appreciated it. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you didn’t have any drakes

 

[sierraforest]

Of course! I’m so glad you appreciated it. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you didn’t have any drakes

Oh gosh, no apology necessary! Truly. I didn't even need to mention that, I was just typing out loud I guess.

 

[Isadora]

My situation is different because my flock of ducks is rather large. But I had one of my hens pass away suddenly, and none of the other seemed to notice. I had 24 ducks at the time. I was very upset, however.
Same situation when we had to cull two drakes due to a bad ratio. No one noticed, thankfully. I doubt this would be true if I only had a few, though. I'm sorry this isn't more helpful, and I'm so sorry to hear about your duck.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I am so sorry for your loss.

I do not own any ducks, but I do have chickens. One of them, a RIR, stayed inside for a few weeks after we noticed she was ill. (We believe she had cancer or another reproductive issue) she unfortunately passed in our arms.

Fortunately, none of the other chickens seemed to notice she was gone once she had passed, I think they were used to her absence after the weeks that had gone by without seeing her.

I hope your other duck is not too heartbroken, and hopefully won’t notice too much.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

 

[sierraforest]

My situation is different because my flock of ducks is rather large. But I had one of my hens pass away suddenly, and none of the other seemed to notice. I had 24 ducks at the time. I was very upset, however.
Same situation when we had to cull two drakes due to a bad ratio. No one noticed, thankfully. I doubt this would be true if I only had a few, though. I'm sorry this isn't more helpful, and I'm so sorry to hear about your duck.

Thank you for this note, Isadora T. Everyone's replies have been helpful in some way or another and I appreciate you taking the time to post. (Also, I envy your ability to have such a large flock. Keeping ducks has been even more of a joy than we expected.)

 

[sierraforest]

I am so sorry for your loss.

I do not own any ducks, but I do have chickens. One of them, a RIR, stayed inside for a few weeks after we noticed she was ill. (We believe she had cancer or another reproductive issue) she unfortunately passed in our arms.

Fortunately, none of the other chickens seemed to notice she was gone once she had passed, I think they were used to her absence after the weeks that had gone by without seeing her.

I hope your other duck is not too heartbroken, and hopefully won’t notice too much.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

Thank you so much, Lemon-Drop, I'm glad to have your perspective. Julie (and our other one, Josie) weathered today better than we anticipated, thankfully, though when we took Connie's body out to the spot we prepare for her burial, Julie began quacking as she usually does when calling out for Connie. Strange thing was that we kept our ducks in their enclosure during this whole burial time, and went a long way around to the yard specifically to avoid the girls seeing us take Connie out (even though she was also very kindly wrapped in a blanket and placed in a container from the hospital, so they couldn't see her body even if we did walk by them). That broke our hearts but on the flip side, Julie and Josie had moments today when they behaved in such sweet ways with one another that we've never seen, so hopefully all will be well soon.

 

[Dux]

I’m so sorry for your loss. Even though there have been so many helpful replies already, I thought I would chime in because I fairly recently lost a duck for the first time and because of and egg binding problem as well. She was sick and in decline for several weeks before her inevitable death but she continued to try to keep up with the others until her last day. I think they knew something was wrong with her but I don’t think they understood death (who among us does....and they had never experienced it before.). The reason I think that is that she passed away sometime around noon while they were all out foraging in the duck tractor and when I went to check on them mid-afternoon, she had passed but they were carrying on like she was just asleep or something (ie ignoring her) and came barreling out of the tractor for their usual treat of peas without a backward glance. That said, they DEFINITELY felt her absence in the subsequent hours, days and even weeks. She was the flock leader, which I think exacerbated the problem because all their lives she had been the one telling them all what to do. I stopped feeling like they were at a loss after about a month. It was super sad because there wasn’t any way to explain it to them or console them and nothing to do other than showing extra kindness by trying to sit with them more and giving them extra treats. She died last Thanksgiving and they are doing fine now (there are three surviving female ducks) so there’s plenty of hope that your girls will be okay once they’ve had some time to adapt.

 

[Isadora]

(Also, I envy your ability to have such a large flock. Keeping ducks has been even more of a joy than we expected.)

I have so enjoyed having them. I call them my "feather covered happy pills".

 

[KaleIAm]

I have so enjoyed having them. I call them my "feather covered happy pills".
View attachment 2712468

"feather covered happy pills" I love that!!