rumbleBee_STi
Songster
Sorry for the play-by-play story, but the way I found her, & how she looked at me has haunted me & stuck in my brain. 
Something got one of my khaki Campbell ducks the other day.
my dog kept barking, I walked onto the porch to see if something was out there. I seen 3 of my ducks (1 khaki , 2 jumbo pekin) standing under their tarp cover, I waited for my other khaki to come into view, but never did. I let my ducks free range all day until night time, never had a problem until DECEMBER. So I put on my boots & went outside to look around. Didn’t see her anywhere. When I yell “duck ducks” they will come running, usually. So I yelled duck duck. Nothing. Took my dogs out of their run & out into the yard to help find her. They ran straight up the hill behind my chicken runs & along the fence line. I followed behind looking & listening. I got far back enough to where I seen a brown body lying under a tree limb. In between my sobbing & yelling NO I ran to her & seen that she was still alive, barely. She was laying on her stomach, with her neck stretched out onto the cold, snowy ground. I scooped her up & ran back to the house with her, got her inside & laid her into the hospital tub I had available. Ran back outside & put the other ducks away for the time being. By the time I got back inside, I watched her take her last breath. 
I checked her wounds, above her right wing was shredded, meat, bone, blood, her wing might’ve been pulled out of place ... I’m not sure. She had some blood on her neck, one puncture wound. Her neck was very limp, she wasn’t trying to move at all. My suspicion is a hawk... maybe a broad winged, or red tail. Does this sound like a hawks doing? I found where it attacked her first outside. Just blood. No footprints. Only her feathers. In the back where I found her, there’s a couple drops of blood trailing straight to where she was laying.
This is my first year keeping chickens & ducks. I first got them all back in March/April of this year. December has been awful, our first attacks, losses. I’ve lost 3 birds so far this month. 2 to predators, 1 for unknown causes. I know it’s apart of keeping chickens & ducks... but I never thought of how traumatizing it would be. I never found the body of my first loss (leghorn), finding my poor duck laying in the cold snow, scared, hurt & dying. I’m a very empathetic person (unfortunately).
RIP Duck Duck
The picture with red circle is where I found her.

Something got one of my khaki Campbell ducks the other day.




This is my first year keeping chickens & ducks. I first got them all back in March/April of this year. December has been awful, our first attacks, losses. I’ve lost 3 birds so far this month. 2 to predators, 1 for unknown causes. I know it’s apart of keeping chickens & ducks... but I never thought of how traumatizing it would be. I never found the body of my first loss (leghorn), finding my poor duck laying in the cold snow, scared, hurt & dying. I’m a very empathetic person (unfortunately).
RIP Duck Duck
