And I have no idea why! She just keeled over and died and the barn girl found her on her back, cold & dead.
I started out with 2 goslings and 2 ducks this spring. They were healthy, hilarious and we were really just getting to know each other. The geese had gotten pretty big and the 2 ducks were good sized too. One day I noticed that my gray goose (gander) wasn't around all day, but since he kind of roamed the pastures and harrassed the horses I didn't think too much about it until evening when I couldn't find him. That really upset me because he was my favorite goose. He used to peck the barn cats and tell them to get off my lap so he could cuddle a while. Amazing! The cats would skeedaddle when he said so. The white goose, smaller, more feminine looking was also a little shyer and wouldn't come up until the gander sat in my lap.
The next day she and my favorite duck, a darling crested one not sure if drake or hen, had both disappeared. Never found a feather of any of them. That was all back in May. Until today, my 2nd duck has been doing fine. I have no idea what breed she was, just a pretty fawn colored duck with some white on her wings, and sweet. She was just starting to lay eggs, maybe had laid 2 dozen in all and today she just flipped on her back and died. I have no idea why.
All of my chickens are fine, everyone got along fine, all the duck, geese and chickens were raised together and roosted together at night. The barn cats are well fed and don't see any of my chickens, geese or ducks as something they want to eat, plus I never found any 'parts' anywhere.
I had a blast raising those ducks and geese, taught them to swim in my jacuzzi bathtub (they LOVED it when I turned on the jets and let the faucet run), they did laps and had a blast. Then my husband taught them how to swim in the stock pond and they followed him around like he was momma. Made me mad, a horse crushed my foot and I haven't been able to swim all summer (I wanted to swim with them and never got the chance), so he got to do the 'quack quack honk honk waddle waddle' down to the pond with them all.
I want to get more goslings and ducks next spring, and obviously will be more diligent about keeping them where I can see them rather than letting them range the pastures, but I'm a little nervous about what may have killed this last duck. I get really attached and don't want to lose any more ducks to unknown issues if I can avoid it. Any suggestions, ideas what may have caused this duck to die? She was probably about 6 months old, give or take a month.
I started out with 2 goslings and 2 ducks this spring. They were healthy, hilarious and we were really just getting to know each other. The geese had gotten pretty big and the 2 ducks were good sized too. One day I noticed that my gray goose (gander) wasn't around all day, but since he kind of roamed the pastures and harrassed the horses I didn't think too much about it until evening when I couldn't find him. That really upset me because he was my favorite goose. He used to peck the barn cats and tell them to get off my lap so he could cuddle a while. Amazing! The cats would skeedaddle when he said so. The white goose, smaller, more feminine looking was also a little shyer and wouldn't come up until the gander sat in my lap.
The next day she and my favorite duck, a darling crested one not sure if drake or hen, had both disappeared. Never found a feather of any of them. That was all back in May. Until today, my 2nd duck has been doing fine. I have no idea what breed she was, just a pretty fawn colored duck with some white on her wings, and sweet. She was just starting to lay eggs, maybe had laid 2 dozen in all and today she just flipped on her back and died. I have no idea why.
All of my chickens are fine, everyone got along fine, all the duck, geese and chickens were raised together and roosted together at night. The barn cats are well fed and don't see any of my chickens, geese or ducks as something they want to eat, plus I never found any 'parts' anywhere.
I had a blast raising those ducks and geese, taught them to swim in my jacuzzi bathtub (they LOVED it when I turned on the jets and let the faucet run), they did laps and had a blast. Then my husband taught them how to swim in the stock pond and they followed him around like he was momma. Made me mad, a horse crushed my foot and I haven't been able to swim all summer (I wanted to swim with them and never got the chance), so he got to do the 'quack quack honk honk waddle waddle' down to the pond with them all.
I want to get more goslings and ducks next spring, and obviously will be more diligent about keeping them where I can see them rather than letting them range the pastures, but I'm a little nervous about what may have killed this last duck. I get really attached and don't want to lose any more ducks to unknown issues if I can avoid it. Any suggestions, ideas what may have caused this duck to die? She was probably about 6 months old, give or take a month.
