I own 8 call ducks, ive raised them all by hand and I love them more than anything. When I went away on holiday I put my father in charge and told him to not let my broody call duck out whilst I was gone for 2 days. She is amazing at "hide and seek" and its rare to find her once shes found a nesting spot. We could only find her using her mate (he'd check up on her spot occasionally), but he's recently moved onto to another call duck and has lost interest.
However, my dad ignored my advice and said it was cruel to keep her in, and released her when I was away. Now we can't find her anywhere. I've been looking for 2 days with no sign. I'm scared shes flown off, and shes not on her previously known nest. I've put posters up everywhere just in case, and checked every body of water nearby. When our broody calls have normally gone missing they'd appear in the morning quacking angrily for food, but no sign the past 2 mornings.
We don't have any predators or birds of prey due to our location in the UK. It could be a fox but we've seen no sightings and its not the normal season for them. We usually know when foxes are around and all the other ducks and chickens were fine when she went missing during daytime. I'm mostly worried she flew off and got lost after getting annoyed at a persistent male duck.
Is it normal for a female duck to not appear for days at a time during a brood? Shes abandoned her main nest full of eggs but its not unusual for her to swap once we find her nest location, but it seems odd that she'd be sitting tight on a new nest when she most probably didn't have a full clutch ready. I wonder if shes coming out at night, and have set a night vision camera for tonight near the food
However, my dad ignored my advice and said it was cruel to keep her in, and released her when I was away. Now we can't find her anywhere. I've been looking for 2 days with no sign. I'm scared shes flown off, and shes not on her previously known nest. I've put posters up everywhere just in case, and checked every body of water nearby. When our broody calls have normally gone missing they'd appear in the morning quacking angrily for food, but no sign the past 2 mornings.
We don't have any predators or birds of prey due to our location in the UK. It could be a fox but we've seen no sightings and its not the normal season for them. We usually know when foxes are around and all the other ducks and chickens were fine when she went missing during daytime. I'm mostly worried she flew off and got lost after getting annoyed at a persistent male duck.
Is it normal for a female duck to not appear for days at a time during a brood? Shes abandoned her main nest full of eggs but its not unusual for her to swap once we find her nest location, but it seems odd that she'd be sitting tight on a new nest when she most probably didn't have a full clutch ready. I wonder if shes coming out at night, and have set a night vision camera for tonight near the food
