my females are missing and im new at this.

[roseofducks]

I

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I am new at the ducks raising. Kids raised 15 ducks in spring. We let them free range during the day. Pen them up at night. They have been mating for about one month. Have never seen a eggs. In last 3 days 3 females are gone. 1 on 1day and2 yesterday. There is no sign of any struggle. Would the females wonder off to find a nest or do I have a predator problem in broad daylight. Help only 4 females left.

 

[sourland]

They may have hidden nest and have gone broody, you may be dealing with a predator, or there is the possibility (if they have access to a body of water) that the drakes are gang breeding and drowning them. Sadly enough the last possibility does occur. Good luck at resolving this.

 

[roseofducks]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't allowed them down to the pond yet. I would fully agree about the later. I thought one female was gonna drown in the kiddie pool. I would have stepped in. Will post update in a day or two. Thanks so much for showing interest.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the reply. I haven't allowed them down to the pond yet. I would fully agree about the later. I thought one female was gonna drown in the kiddie pool. I would have stepped in. Will post update in a day or two. Thanks so much for showing interest.

I hope they have gone off brooding, I had one missing one time and she had some how crawled under the ramp going into the duck house no easy feat since it was not very high. I like to never got her out of there. So look under anything lay about.

 

[roseofducks]

get more exercise than jumping to conclusions

Thanks for the reply. I haven't allowed them down to the pond yet. I would fully agree about the later. I thought one female was gonna drown in the kiddie pool. I would have stepped in. Will post update in a day or two. Thanks so much for showing interest.

 

[cosbackyard]

There are daytime predators as well. I've seen fox and raccoon mid-day on rare occasion. There are also some larger hunting birds that might take one.

 

[roseofducks]

This is just crazy . You might be right on the day predators. We live on approximately 100 acres. We have looked all over on the four wheeler. Nothing anywhere. No feathers. We do have barns and hay so we could be overlooking them. It's like worrying about a child. At least if I could feathers I could stop looking. Still hopeful yet.

 

[OHbluecoop]

I didnt think I saw what kind of ducks they are, but I had two of my call ducks hide in between bales of hay and go broody. You could hardly see them...

 

[roseofducks]

As of today 09/29/13 we have had no luck on finding the 3 ducks. It's just like they've been plucked from the sky. May very well have been.

 

[Angelicisi]

They'll be back....with babies lol

How long is incubation? Few days after that would end normally they'll come barreling in to feed.

They laid their hidden nests and when they had a clutch they disappeared (to hatch them)


I hope! But have had it happen lol so maybe