I need some experienced wisdom here( i had an inccident yesterday)

[Going Quackers]

I'll start off by stating the blaring obvious i am pretty upset at the moment and seriously teetering on whether i can even continue with ducks.

Yesterday morning, my mother went to let the ducks out.. now this is at 8;40- after 9 AM ... which was fine, all was let out no issues... less than an hour later my oldest daughter and I went outside, to continue with the rest of the animals and so forth. We noticed quite a few feathers... now this is just off to the side not far from the duck barn and directly in front of the horse paddock.. all of this is not more than 20ft from our house and the area we have fenced off for several dogs(which had been outside with my mother while she let the ducks out)

We thought the two black drakes(1yo) Muscovy had been at it again, they have been fighting recently clearing still not sorted out there pecking order... well, we went looking we could easily find the rest of the flock.. they were further up on the septic bed and around the kids old wood playground, some were in the barn(ducks) laying.

Well he's gone, this HUGE drake is bloody gone!

We followed feathers into the field beside us, we could trace it back to the river that runs between the properties and leads to our neighbours house? we still couldn't find our drake.

So now, we know at this point this was either a dog(possible, neighbours do own them, river is cross able) or a fox.. which is more unusual, we are in a valley and quite open.. our neighbours to the one side cut there entire property, the neighbours to the other side have horses that run between them and the other neighbours.. they share the land to graze the horses.

You can imagine, how i feel at this point, we continued to keep a close eye on the rest of the birds and put them in earlier than usual.

I am just ill, seriously.. i could be. I am not naive, i know a bit of something about predators just we don't usually have issues with daytimes due to the lay out of the lands here... now i am left paranoid and well, helpless...

I have no pen big enough to keep 20 Muscovies, let alone the financial ability to make one, they really never go far and keep where grass is clear.. land is open, for crying out loud this happened basically on my back door!

I am really unsure if i should just forget this all, i don't want anything to happen to the rest and i clearly now have a problem one i have never had in 20yrs of living here... i am just so sad.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'll start off by stating the blaring obvious i am pretty upset at the moment and seriously teetering on whether i can even continue with ducks.

Yesterday morning, my mother went to let the ducks out.. now this is at 8;40- after 9 AM ... which was fine, all was let out no issues... less than an hour later my oldest daughter and I went outside, to continue with the rest of the animals and so forth. We noticed quite a few feathers... now this is just off to the side not far from the duck barn and directly in front of the horse paddock.. all of this is not more than 20ft from our house and the area we have fenced off for several dogs(which had been outside with my mother while she let the ducks out)

We thought the two black drakes(1yo) Muscovy had been at it again, they have been fighting recently clearing still not sorted out there pecking order... well, we went looking we could easily find the rest of the flock.. they were further up on the septic bed and around the kids old wood playground, some were in the barn(ducks) laying.

Well he's gone, this HUGE drake is bloody gone!

We followed feathers into the field beside us, we could trace it back to the river that runs between the properties and leads to our neighbours house? we still couldn't find our drake.

So now, we know at this point this was either a dog(possible, neighbours do own them, river is cross able) or a fox.. which is more unusual, we are in a valley and quite open.. our neighbours to the one side cut there entire property, the neighbours to the other side have horses that run between them and the other neighbours.. they share the land to graze the horses.

You can imagine, how i feel at this point, we continued to keep a close eye on the rest of the birds and put them in earlier than usual.

I am just ill, seriously.. i could be. I am not naive, i know a bit of something about predators just we don't usually have issues with daytimes due to the lay out of the lands here... now i am left paranoid and well, helpless...

I have no pen big enough to keep 20 Muscovies, let alone the financial ability to make one, they really never go far and keep where grass is clear.. land is open, for crying out loud this happened basically on my back door!

I am really unsure if i should just forget this all, i don't want anything to happen to the rest and i clearly now have a problem one i have never had in 20yrs of living here... i am just so sad.

Oh Quackers I am so sorry, It must be scary how bold this predator was, Now you know it's something that can and could happen when we let our ducks/chickens free range, we hope it never does but I am sure as with me it's always in the back of your mind. Sounds like a dog to me to be so bold, I rarely see a fox out in the open here and we have plenty. If what just happened to you happened here, I would be laying in wait for this pred what ever it maybe, with my 410 or 22 rifle. It may take a while but it will be back, in the mean time talk to your neighbors who have dogs and tell them what happened, they will know if their dog was out during the time this happened. I would just say that what ever it was will be shot if it comes around again. It's lawful to do that here if our livestock is in harms way. your not accusing anyone just stating a fact. I am with you we have some fencing but if something really wanted in it could go over the fence without any problem. Your just going to have to be observant till you get what ever it was. again I am so sorry it's such a violation.

 

[Going Quackers]

Oh Quackers I am so sorry, It must be scary how bold this predator was, Now you know it's something that can and could happen when we let our ducks/chickens free range, we hope it never does but I am sure as with me it's always in the back of your mind. Sounds like a dog to me to be so bold, I rarely see a fox out in the open here and we have plenty. If what just happened to you happened here, I would be laying in wait for this pred what ever it maybe, with my 410 or 22 rifle. It may take a while but it will be back, in the mean time talk to your neighbors who have dogs and tell them what happened, they will know if their dog was out during the time this happened. I would just say that what ever it was will be shot if it comes around again. It's lawful to do that here if our livestock is in harms way. your not accusing anyone just stating a fact. I am with you we have some fencing but if something really wanted in it could go over the fence without any problem. Your just going to have to be observant till you get what ever it was. again I am so sorry it's such a violation.

Thank you, i really appreciate it

My husband is just well, this happens life on a farm.. i am more sensitive i guess. I was just doing some reading on foxes and yeah, it is sounding more like a dog.. i mean it was not 2ft from my horse paddock! both of them were there too, they did not freak out.. we were in the house, all my windows are open.. we heard no commotion! The animals are all used to dogs too which would make more sense as to why there was no ruck as.

We did call the neighbours beside the river... but i doubt they'd admit if they did find my drake... they probably think we'd call in the town. I want to fence but realistically they need plenty of room and that would be quite costly.. i actually drug out a huge piece of old snow fence(wood/wire variety) ran it across where it appears it came through... a deterrent obviously not a full on fail proof, basically ruining it's line of sight.

I don't even want to let the ducks out, i am so scared it'll come after Lilly and her group of 9... i do know i am absolutely bringing out one of the dogs this time... I have an 80lb lab..she's okay with the ducks, but may scare off anything waiting to try again. My husband argues if we fence off were blocking them in, thus creating a worse situation... so short of a VERY large fully enclosed pen, i don't know what else to do... they wander in the horse paddock all the time, heck on friday i had a duck fly into the dog yard

sigh.. i am going crazy here...

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

GQ so so sorry. I am with Lydia let the neighbors know, more like a hey heads up we had a predator attack and take a large drake. Be on the look out, as we thought you would like a heads up.

How about hot wire? It is much cheaper to run than building a pen. You can run multiple strands to create a barrier. Even with our field fencing we have been adding and plan to keep running hot wire as well to keep neighbor or running loose dogs and other predators at bay.


When we had the bobcats coming on property we warned all the neighbors they were hunting the area and we were setting traps and would be shooting all predators that trespassed on our property. Was an easy way to warn those who let their dogs run loose as well.

 

[Going Quackers]

GQ so so sorry. I am with Lydia let the neighbors know, more like a hey heads up we had a predator attack and take a large drake. Be on the look out, as we thought you would like a heads up.
How about hot wire? It is much cheaper to run than building a pen. You can run multiple strands to create a barrier. Even with our field fencing we have been adding and plan to keep running hot wire as well to keep neighbor or running loose dogs and other predators at bay.
When we had the bobcats coming on property we warned all the neighbors they were hunting the area and we were setting traps and would be shooting all predators that trespassed on our property. Was an easy way to warn those who let their dogs run loose as well.

Thanks yes, we called them letting them know... i am waffling with the hot wire idea... it would be far easier and i could corral an area vs penning, the ducks primarily hang out in this one area anyways, only on occasion coming round the the front of the property or walking around the side field.

The whole thing is so odd, again as Lydia suggested i am thinking dog more and more.. everything here is used to them and doesn't fear them, unlike a fox? they'd freak i can count on one hand how many i have seen while out driving, never actually on my property.. heck the horses get deer visitors now an then and still act all crazy..

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks yes, we called them letting them know... i am waffling with the hot wire idea... it would be far easier and i could corral an area vs penning, the ducks primarily hang out in this one area anyways, only on occasion coming round the the front of the property or walking around the side field.

The whole thing is so odd, again as Lydia suggested i am thinking dog more and more.. everything here is used to them and doesn't fear them, unlike a fox? they'd freak i can count on one hand how many i have seen while out driving, never actually on my property.. heck the horses get deer visitors now an then and still act all crazy..

I am with you about the dog. To me they are a much greater threat to our animals than foxes or any other wild predator, just like you said they are use to seeing a dog. And since you lock your flock up at night thats when most wild preds are out. If you can swing it Hot wire would be the way to go.

 

[Going Quackers]

I am with you about the dog. To me they are a much greater threat to our animals than foxes or any other wild predator, just like you said they are use to seeing a dog. And since you lock your flock up at night thats when most wild preds are out. If you can swing it Hot wire would be the way to go.

Yes, that is what is so frustrating, you know 'scovies they just aren;t that noisy most here don't even know we own them.. and the dogs? well they sit along the fence of the dog yard often, some tall cedars are there.. i swear some of them enjoy tormenting the little dog lol so the overall fear of them is not big.

It makes little sense to me a fox would take on the largest of the flock, those what 3/4in-1in nails? the bird had to be 12-15lbs! HUGE ... when i have a 3mth old drake and 9 turning 8wk olds? I have no guns here btw, i forgot to mention that.. in my last post.

I'm looking into the hot wire... trying to sort that out... i just short of bringing out the dog don't know what to do today, thankfully all the are kids home(still summer break) so were going to have to continually watch.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, that is what is so frustrating, you know 'scovies they just aren;t that noisy most here don't even know we own them.. and the dogs? well they sit along the fence of the dog yard often, some tall cedars are there.. i swear some of them enjoy tormenting the little dog lol so the overall fear of them is not big.

It makes little sense to me a fox would take on the largest of the flock, those what 3/4in-1in nails? the bird had to be 12-15lbs! HUGE ... when i have a 3mth old drake and 9 turning 8wk olds? I have no guns here btw, i forgot to mention that.. in my last post.

I'm looking into the hot wire... trying to sort that out... i just short of bringing out the dog don't know what to do today, thankfully all the are kids home(still summer break) so were going to have to continually watch.

Well since no guns how about an axe or a shovel, something big so if you do see something you can go after it quickly, I would never want to harm another animal and will always fire off a warning but if something goes after one of mine they are history. We use to have dogs that roamed here in our county, and i have had to shoot off the gun to send them on their way but it has been many years since any have been through here, but I always think of the possibility. Your drake was most likely trying to defend the rest. A true hero.

 

[Going Quackers]

Well since no guns how about an axe or a shovel, something big so if you do see something you can go after it quickly, I would never want to harm another animal and will always fire off a warning but if something goes after one of mine they are history. We use to have dogs that roamed here in our county, and i have had to shoot off the gun to send them on their way but it has been many years since any have been through here, but I always think of the possibility. Your drake was most likely trying to defend the rest. A true hero.

yes, true those we have! i have a pick axe perhaps i should bring that 'round back. I have entirely no clue what happened, i wish they could talk. it's so upsetting.. i don't expect in board daylight by my HOUSE to have an attack... this is quite an open area, not the best for daytime hunting. Plus there are tons of mice a fox could easily grab, my farm cat caught two yesterday alone.

 

[Miss Lydia]

yes, true those we have! i have a pick axe perhaps i should bring that 'round back. I have entirely no clue what happened, i wish they could talk. it's so upsetting.. i don't expect in board daylight by my HOUSE to have an attack... this is quite an open area, not the best for daytime hunting. Plus there are tons of mice a fox could easily grab, my farm cat caught two yesterday alone.

You need something to make yourselves look big and mean when going after what ever it was. How are the rest of the flock acting? Nervous? Foxes are opportunistic and if your drake was at the right place at the right time but I really doubt it was a fox unless starving and not able to feed herself or maybe her young.