Loud quackers? D:

[wildpeas]

About hawks...yes, the bigger ones will eat your ducks if they want to. So will eagles. And owls, if your ducks are out at night.

Right now my juveniles go out int he backyard during the day. Its fenced but not covered. They are learning to take naps under the hammock instead of out in the open which makes me feel a lot better about their safety. We also have been cultivating the good will of a medium size group of crows. Between them and the swallows no hawk or eagle has been left unmolested when flying over our airspace.

The sheer number of things that can cause death and mayhem to a group of ducks is enough to give a person heart palpitations.

 

[GardenerGal]

Yes they do. But what always bust me up laughing is when any real big bird flys overhead they all cock their head to one side and look up in unison. Its funny when 40 or 50 in my big pen do it all at once.

Flash mob!

 

[ducksliketoswim]

About hawks...yes, the bigger ones will eat your ducks if they want to. So will eagles. And owls, if your ducks are out at night.

Right now my juveniles go out int he backyard during the day. Its fenced but not covered. They are learning to take naps under the hammock instead of out in the open which makes me feel a lot better about their safety. We also have been cultivating the good will of a medium size group of crows. Between them and the swallows no hawk or eagle has been left unmolested when flying over our airspace.

The sheer number of things that can cause death and mayhem to a group of ducks is enough to give a person heart palpitaI

I'd be pretty devistated if a hawk ate one of my ducks =/ I didnt think a hawk would go after something their size. Back when I use to raise parakeets a hawk swooped down and attaked the aviary they were living in, it couldnt break through but my ducks dont have the protection my parakeets did. I havent seen a hawk in awhile though, so thats good.

 

[wildpeas]

My most common hawk is the Sharp-Shinned Hawk.Its on the smaller side and usually goes for song birds although I had one chase a mourning dove into my bedroom window last month. A mourning dove is about the size of 5 weeks old ducklings. The mourning dove died and the hawk knocked itself silly. Lately I have been seeing Red-Tailed hawks and Ospreys and a few juvenile Bald Eagles. None have flown directly over my house since the crows and swallows have moved in, just skimming the surrounding area.

I highly recommend getting a book on raptors and learning what frequents your area. Forewarned is forearmed or so they say.

 

[quirkybeeper]

As far as quacking goes, neither of mine (one drake and one duck, both pekins) are all that loud. My girl usually only quacks full-out when she thinks their water needs to be changed...and she is very picky. Their pen is just off the driveway, so if I get home and don't come give her water immediately and go back in the house, she'll quack and quack until I come back with water (drives me nuts because she can't do it at noon or dinner time, it's ALWAYS at 7am!), then she'll "fuss" at me. Not quacking, more like chattering. She also fusses and nags at my drake, it's really funny.

As the predators go...we're going to be moving them soon under a carport that we don't use, and we're going to fully-enclose it. I went out for a smoke one evening and heard a really weird noise...a guy a couple houses down has hunting dogs and at first I thought the noise was coming from over there...turn to see a possum chowing down on their food! I had to chase it off, but it makes me nervous every time I see a random animal or a dog wandering around off-leash, I usually go outside to make sure it leaves my duckies alone.

Sorry for the novel, just thought I'd share

 

[ducksliketoswim]

@wildpeas I had no clue hawks were afraid of crows and swallows. I'll research the predators in my area today and see what I can do to help keep them at bay!

@quirkybeeper Your pekin sounds a lot like mine! She quacks for food every single morning! She makes it seem like I neglect her, even though I constantly feed them throughout the entire day! She's silly. Ever since I moved into city limits I havent seen any critters like an opossum, I did however have a run in with a weasel and some coyotes back when I lived in the country. Luckily my dog spotted the weasel before any eggs were harmed, but the coyotes got away with one of my ducks =[

 

[Oregon Blues]

I had no clue hawks were afraid of crows and swallows.

Not much of a trade off, as far as I am concerned. The crows here just killed 2 four week old Cornish cross chickens, close to 3 pounds apiece. They also steal eggs and beat the broodies off their nests to steal the eggs.

Not too many species of hawks will kill poultry. Most of them are much too small and eat small things like mice and sparrows. If you have large hawks, then you need covered runs, but since I have to keep my birds in covered runs so the crows don't kill them and eat them, I am not seeing any advantage to the crows.

The hawks don't tear up my garden or steal the fruit off my fruit trees, either, like the crows do.

I suspect that ducks in a close neighborhood would be a lot noisier. They quack whenever anything is going on, or when they see people. If neighbors were close, the activities of the neighbors would probably set off quacking.

 

[wildpeas]

Wow Oregon, it sounds like you have some really aggressive crows! Sorry about you chicken losses.

We have a circular relationship going on with them here. I set out peanuts for them, they nest in our woods and harass the raptors, the dog spends most of her day chasing the crows and barking like a lunatic, the crows go back into the trees.

 

[Tahai]

not many things eat gypsy worms

. crows do, so crows are acceptable in my book. I don't cultivate them though. (the crows or the worms

)

I DO cultivate the Blue Jays. They occasionally might steal an egg, but no biggie. They do chase hawks, crows and starlings. They also give the neighborhood alarm, which I'm helping my duckies learn.