My poor Pekin ducks!

[Carcajou]

So sorry for your loss. Like Amiga, I have a neighbor for backup. I let mine free range during the day but never leave them out at night. I lost two last winter and changed my management style with some new ducks this spring. I feed them in the morning then take their feeder in about noon. I put it back out at 4 PM (this will be later as the days lengthen) which gets them back into the enclosure. Most of the time they put themselves in the coop a little while after dark then I make sure they are locked in right away.

Echoing Amiga, it is amazing how we quickly become attached to our ducks.

Best of luck in the future.

 

[bhhastin]

Hey Jake, it's been a few years since I had ducks. The last time was when I was in high school. I had two pekins that I raised from ducklings. I always kept them locked up at night, but during the day I'd let them roam our acre of land and they would go swim in our neighbor's koi pond. It was funny, because at night all I had to do was stick my head out our back door and whistle and then I'd hear them waddling home from next door.

One day, I got home from school and my dad was raging angry at me. He told me that if I ever brought another animal home, he'd kill me. Apparently, my ducks got attacked by something during the day while I was at school. My dad found them in really bad shape, still alive, but I guess he couldn't figure out how they were still alive, that's how bad they were. He had to put them down in a pretty gruesome manner to end their suffering. My dad is tough guy, but has a soft spot for animals, so it was hard on him to have to do that. He wouldn't speak to me for about a week. Anyway, he claimed it was a feral cat, but we always had foxes running around, so I think it could have been fox.

I'm trying to hatch some ducklings now so that I can share the experience with my family. Ducks are really awesome pets and I'm so sorry you lost yours. I don't think I ever had a duck or chicken die of old age growing up, they were always eventually eaten by something.

 

[DuckLoverJake]

When I finish college I'm planning on making a pen attached to my house that is built super well.