Newly adopted Khaki Campbell Drake vanished without a trace!

[Jennifer Rogers]

Well, STILL no Fred. Searched the property more and still not even a feather in a 1/2 mile radius! Found 4 aluminum cans, 2 bottles, and 2 old garbage bag piles prob the handy work of a thieving bear tho. Also checked most of the other local ponds (No Ducks) as well as put the word out to watch the big lake nearby.

We kinda have another theory, and it is not very good....
The wife took this photo a few months ago. This guy came down and grabbed a bass out of our pond and ate it on the shore. Heard that they prey on ducks and would have had no problem flying off with a 5lb drake. The speed that it could have happened, could also be why the girls never really saw or digested what happened. Then could have flown for miles away. ???? Never in our years have we lost a duck to, or even had a problem with flying predators, let alone a freaking EAGLE! Tho, still cannot confirm.

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We have many eagles on our property, but they have never even considered touching our birds since we got geese. Geese are as close as it gets to a guarantee that flying predators will stay away. We were able to free-range our birds after dark without any predator attacks. Also, before we got geese, and a hawk got one of our birds, thare was a cloud of feathers. If there is no trace of feathers, blood, or anything else, I seriously doubt it was a predator, which is good news.

 

[Dorothys_Ducks]

We are totally perplexed and fear the worst. Hoping for the best tho. Either way, situation No Bueno.

After losing our or beloved 6 & 1/2 year old Khaki drake to a testicular tumor, we adopted / rescued a 1 & 1/2 yr old Khaki drake to be a new boyfriend (and 3rd set of eyes) for our two 4 & 1/2 year old girls. He was the sole survivor when his flock was killed by a fox and was living with guineas since last year. He was very sweet and was falling into his new role incredibly well. soooo well, it was almost to good to be true! We named him Fred, and he seemed to develop a special liking to our Lucy. He followed her around wherever she went and she allowed him to mate with her even tho she is pretty much done laying. He is/was pretty big guy about 5 lbs.

Things started to get a "little" complicated tho with our new baby Sabastapol goose as he is growing soo fast and getting bigger than them. But they seemed to work things out and also seemed to develop a bit of a bro thing. They would hang together when the girls were feeling broody and went off to nest in the bushes. Other than the goose taking over the pool and kicking everyone else out, the only aggressive thing happened earlier in the day when Fred was on top of Lucy mating. Mavrick the 8-9lb baby goose came over and starting biting Fred on the back trying to pull him off of Lucy probably because we figure he thought Fred was hurting her. I intervened and everyone went on their way for the rest of the day and all seemed normal.

Now, the weird thing..... He VANISHED without a trace! At about 345pm my wife checked on them and all four were "beak tucked" snoozing about a foot from the house and she commented how adorable they were and she was happy the "Flock" was getting along so well. At about 350pm, only like 5 min later, she heard the girls squawking "calling all ducks!" She rushed out and Fred was GONE. No one seemed freaked out or panicked, just calling when someone is missing. I figured since he just got all his new primary feathers and had been practicing flying and taking off from the water of the kiddie pool, that he might have got a bug up his butt and flew over the 5 ft fence down to the pond that he had been kinda eyeballing for the past 2-3 days. We only had him for 31 days and i had not taken them down there yet. Was waiting till the goose got more of his feathers. Needless to say, he was Not at the pond. He Has seemed extra anxious to go outside and would be waiting by the kennel's chain-link door where we would enter the pen to go let them outside. He would take flight right out the open door and straight to the pool!

Before anyone says fox or coyote, our yard is fortified with a 5ft high fence and the biggest thing that can get in, or out in a hurry, is a chipmunk or a squirrel (over the top jumping from a tree to tree.) Had a baby bunny in there last year and even HE couldn't get out after he grew! In the almost 2 years now at our new house with this setup, we have never really had a problem with hawks either. Maybe twice, possibly 3 times we had one come fly over low for a look-see. The girls are even trained to run for cover whenever someone yells BAD BIRD or they eyeball one lower than normal. Our old drake even had them run into the duckhouse to hide during that 2 or3 times a hawk came by and they got scared. Their duck house is actually inside our garage kennel area where they spend their nights. It is accessed thru an exterior door we block open so they can come in whenever they want a snack during the day when they are out. Dog door not yet converted.

He has been gone now for over 32hrs and no sign of him anywhere. Not even a feather! I checked every square inch of their fenced in backyard area. And i mean every square inch! under every bush and low foliage incase he was injured and hiding. The space is big, but he is not there anywhere. I even checked everywhere around the perimeter of the yard increasing the radius out to almost our whole 30 acres! Like i said, NOTHING! Not even a feather to be found.

Any thought ideas?? My main question however.... Has anyone ever heard of a adopted duck leaving to try to go back to I can't even begin to imagine how horrible this whole ordeal has been for you.

We are totally perplexed and fear the worst. Hoping for the best tho. Either way, situation No Bueno.

After losing our or beloved 6 & 1/2 year old Khaki drake to a testicular tumor, we adopted / rescued a 1 & 1/2 yr old Khaki drake to be a new boyfriend (and 3rd set of eyes) for our two 4 & 1/2 year old girls. He was the sole survivor when his flock was killed by a fox and was living with guineas since last year. He was very sweet and was falling into his new role incredibly well. soooo well, it was almost to good to be true! We named him Fred, and he seemed to develop a special liking to our Lucy. He followed her around wherever she went and she allowed him to mate with her even tho she is pretty much done laying. He is/was pretty big guy about 5 lbs.

Things started to get a "little" complicated tho with our new baby Sabastapol goose as he is growing soo fast and getting bigger than them. But they seemed to work things out and also seemed to develop a bit of a bro thing. They would hang together when the girls were feeling broody and went off to nest in the bushes. Other than the goose taking over the pool and kicking everyone else out, the only aggressive thing happened earlier in the day when Fred was on top of Lucy mating. Mavrick the 8-9lb baby goose came over and starting biting Fred on the back trying to pull him off of Lucy probably because we figure he thought Fred was hurting her. I intervened and everyone went on their way for the rest of the day and all seemed normal.

Now, the weird thing..... He VANISHED without a trace! At about 345pm my wife checked on them and all four were "beak tucked" snoozing about a foot from the house and she commented how adorable they were and she was happy the "Flock" was getting along so well. At about 350pm, only like 5 min later, she heard the girls squawking "calling all ducks!" She rushed out and Fred was GONE. No one seemed freaked out or panicked, just calling when someone is missing. I figured since he just got all his new primary feathers and had been practicing flying and taking off from the water of the kiddie pool, that he might have got a bug up his butt and flew over the 5 ft fence down to the pond that he had been kinda eyeballing for the past 2-3 days. We only had him for 31 days and i had not taken them down there yet. Was waiting till the goose got more of his feathers. Needless to say, he was Not at the pond. He Has seemed extra anxious to go outside and would be waiting by the kennel's chain-link door where we would enter the pen to go let them outside. He would take flight right out the open door and straight to the pool!

Before anyone says fox or coyote, our yard is fortified with a 5ft high fence and the biggest thing that can get in, or out in a hurry, is a chipmunk or a squirrel (over the top jumping from a tree to tree.) Had a baby bunny in there last year and even HE couldn't get out after he grew! In the almost 2 years now at our new house with this setup, we have never really had a problem with hawks either. Maybe twice, possibly 3 times we had one come fly over low for a look-see. The girls are even trained to run for cover whenever someone yells BAD BIRD or they eyeball one lower than normal. Our old drake even had them run into the duckhouse to hide during that 2 or3 times a hawk came by and they got scared. Their duck house is actually inside our garage kennel area where they spend their nights. It is accessed thru an exterior door we block open so they can come in whenever they want a snack during the day when they are out. Dog door not yet converted.

He has been gone now for over 32hrs and no sign of him anywhere. Not even a feather! I checked every square inch of their fenced in backyard area. And i mean every square inch! under every bush and low foliage incase he was injured and hiding. The space is big, but he is not there anywhere. I even checked everywhere around the perimeter of the yard increasing the radius out to almost our whole 30 acres! Like i said, NOTHING! Not even a feather to be found.

Any thought ideas?? My main question however.... Has anyone ever heard of a adopted duck leaving to try to go back to their previous home??

First of all, I want to offer my condolences. As a duck parent myself, this is one of my worst fears and I can't even begin to imagine what you must be going through.

Were his wings clipped? Best case scenario, he got curious and hopped out to explore for a little. My Stacie did this once and nearly gave me a heart attack. I was frantically searching everywhere for her, and was so happy to hear her bossy little quacks and to turn and see her standing behind me, demanding that I immediately unlock the gate so she could waddle back in.

Tractor supply sells thin 'bird nets' that you can secure to the top of their fence to keep them extra safe. Worth every penny. I pray that you find your little one safe and sound soon