Lone duck

[ruthhope]

Does this work for chickens to?

I took in [fostered] an abandoned young cockerel 3 weeks ago until we could find a forever home with a backyard chicken keeper. He was in a dog crate in the garden with my ducks during the day, but in my duck brooder in my bathroom at night so that his cockadoodling didn't disturb my neighbors. I put in a mirror and he sat facing it every night to sleep. I thought to do that as a neighbor has a long door mirror mounted sideways along the foot of her fence and her free ranging chickens love to do antics looking at themselves in that mirror.

In contrast, a lone duckling that I rescued at maybe 2-3 days old, took just 4 hours to realize the duckling in the image wasn't real, but he could see me in the mirror. So he just used the mirror to look up at me [until he got two more rescued ducklings to keep him company]

 

[BelovedBirds]

I took in [fostered] an abandoned young cockerel 3 weeks ago until we could find a forever home with a backyard chicken keeper. He was in a dog crate in the garden with my ducks during the day, but in my duck brooder in my bathroom at night so that his cockadoodling didn't disturb my neighbors. I put in a mirror and he sat facing it every night to sleep. I thought to do that as a neighbor has a long door mirror mounted sideways along the foot of her fence and her free ranging chickens love to do antics looking at themselves in that mirror.

In contrast, a lone duckling that I rescued at maybe 2-3 days old, took just 4 hours to realize the duckling in the image wasn't real, but he could see me in the mirror. So he just used the mirror to look up at me [until he got two more rescued ducklings to keep him company]

awww! Thank you for sharing those two examples, that's really interesting.
You did a good thing for that cockerel- I'm so glad he found a forever home!

 

[Yardmom]

for the eagle? Yikes, is that legal?

Of course that is not legal. In the United States eagles are under a federal protection act. It is not even legal to possess a feather of an eagle.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Of course that is not legal. In the United States eagles are under a federal protection act. It is not even legal to possess a feather of an eagle.

I figured as much, which is alarming- I'm not in the states. Here we have some birds of prey protected and some which are allowed to be shot to defend livestock- thus I figured I'd check rather than just accuse, or ignore, but with it being an eagle I was pretty sure anyway

 

[Miss Lydia]

I too am sorry for your loss, first thing I would do before bringing home any more ducks is fix how the predator was able to kill your duck so it doesn't happen again .

 

[ruthhope]

awww! Thank you for sharing those two examples, that's really interesting.
You did a good thing for that cockerel- I'm so glad he found a forever home!

He--Doodle--was such a tiny little life, I couldn't leave him abandoned in the woods. We do have ferral chickens and roosters in my area, but this one was far too young and tiny to fend for himself. Fortunately, my local animal rescue rehabber has a wide network of contacts and she found a backyard chicken keeper who wanted Doodle.

 

[BelovedBirds]

He--Doodle--was such a tiny little life, I couldn't leave him abandoned in the woods. We do have ferral chickens and roosters in my area, but this one was far too young and tiny to fend for himself. Fortunately, my local animal rescue rehabber has a wide network of contacts and she found a backyard chicken keeper who wanted Doodle.

bless him! I love the name too!!

 

[Neffer1167]

Once a bald eagle swooped down and stole one of my chicks. Told hubby to get his shot gun. Got the job done.

Wow I'm sorry but I don't agree with killing a bald eagle. I know they are not endangered anymore but still. You should have netting over your run if that is a big issue where you live. I know I am basically to blame for my ducks death. It is my job to keep her safe and I got lax because in the 10 years I've had chickens and or ducks here, I have never had a predator issue. I have learned a lesson at the expense of my Daisy girl but you best bet it will never happen again if I can help it.