My poor girl duck killed....grrrrrrrrrr

[Bizzybirdy]

Well, I am always soooo careful about my chickens and my ducks and geese have a large pond to retreat to at night but I found one of my female ducks (just have 2 pair that I raised from babies) killed in my horse round pen early this morning. She was beheaded with a broken neck which leads me to think racoon because that is what they had done to my chickens several years ago. Would you all agree?

Her mate is devastated...he sits next to the other pair and just looks so forlorn

. The ducks stay on the pond all night but are the first to wander off and about first thing in the morning, just at dawn....and they obviously cannot run very fast. Always in the past the racoons and possums have come after the chickens but since they have been penned up in a "Ft. Knox" maybe they have decided to try duck dinner.

I thought my days of sitting out all night were over with the last possum I shot months ago but predators seem to be a never ending thing around feathered friends. Now I will have to sit in the barn and wait, again, am getting too old for this.. My neighbor whose house is back near my round pen said he will be up at dawn and looking too. Am sad because I usually put a horse out there but didn't last night and look what happened.

 

[Debbi]

Sorry for your loss! Can you put a live trap out for Mr. Coon?

 

[Chicken from the hood]

Soo sorry for your loss

I would start putting the other ducks in a coop at night if I were you.
Good luck.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Sorry just never seems to e enough, but I am. Maybe you should give your neighbor a box of ammo. And I mean that sincerely not being a smart a**.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

Ya.. I can try to chase the other 3 ducks into the chicken coop at night. Won't be easy as they are used to being on the pond with the geese and generally hang out with them most of the time.

Am going to post on Craig's list and see if I can buy a female or two for the lonely drake. He looks pitifully sad.

I got up before dawn and saw that her body, that had been put back out for bait, had already been dragged towards the fence and one of her legs- foot and all!- was eaten. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...would have thought the predator would have gone for the breast meat.

Guess I will have to stay up all night and try to shoot whatever it is. I have a trap set all the time by the house where my chicken pen is located but do not think anything around the pond will go into it, maybe will try anyway though...with some eggs as bait, the duck is too large to use.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

I set a trap in the round pen and put the remaining three ducks in the chicken house....no easy feat trying to round them up. lol Hopefully will catch something in the trap, doubt it though. :-(