At least it was a male--I was going to have to either eat him or give him away in another week or two anyway. But unfortunately, it was the one my 5-year-old had named for another duckling we had lost out of the last batch. Sigh.
Oh well. Anyway, it was almost certainly a raccoon--grabbed the poor duckling right through the chain link and ate its head off. I knew this was an accident waiting to happen, but I've been lazy and not wanting to bother with the extra wire & electric fence I had in mind. This was just the impetus I needed to get one step ahead of the predators.
So this morning I put up 1/4" wire mesh around the bottom two feet of the pen--it's not done yet because I ran out of wire & zip ties, but I'll be going to the hardware store for more this afternoon. Then I'm going to work on a strand or two of electric wire, at six inches and maybe again at three feet, to deter predators from probing the fence for weaknesses.
Anyone else feel like they're constantly dancing one step ahead of the predators, and sometimes falling behind a step or two?
Oh well. Anyway, it was almost certainly a raccoon--grabbed the poor duckling right through the chain link and ate its head off. I knew this was an accident waiting to happen, but I've been lazy and not wanting to bother with the extra wire & electric fence I had in mind. This was just the impetus I needed to get one step ahead of the predators.
So this morning I put up 1/4" wire mesh around the bottom two feet of the pen--it's not done yet because I ran out of wire & zip ties, but I'll be going to the hardware store for more this afternoon. Then I'm going to work on a strand or two of electric wire, at six inches and maybe again at three feet, to deter predators from probing the fence for weaknesses.
Anyone else feel like they're constantly dancing one step ahead of the predators, and sometimes falling behind a step or two?