Please Help--Our Ducks Were Attacked-2 Dead, 1 Injured

[Bananarose24]

My husband came home from work this morning and found that our Ducks had been attacked in the night.
2 of them are Dead, 1 is Injured (her wing is broken and she has several gashes, feathers missing). Only 1 of the Ducks escaped being harmed.

We do not know what got them. We live in a Suburban neighborhood just outside of a City.
We are new Duck owners who are still learning, and feel absolutely crushed over this.

Please if you have suggestions, ideas on what we can do to provide them with a SAFE living environment, share them!
When we brought them home we had a house ready for them, but, they have had free roam of our backyard.

Later on today we will be going to Lowes to get a bunch of wood, chicken wire, etc.. to build them an actual enclosure. We will no longer let them have free roam as it is too dangerous. They have only been here for 1 week.

We are pretty sure it was either a neighborhood cat OR a Fox. We have never seen a fox ourselves, but, our neighbors warned us about them, saying theyve seen them in the yards several times. Either way we need any ideas any of you might have to help us keep them safe.

Also, if you have any suggestions on what we can do for the one who is injured, please share those ideas as well! Her wing is definitely broken, and she has several spots where feathers were torn out, but, nothing is deep and she is not bleeding currently. Of course we cannot tell what is going on internally...

I have no idea what we will tell our two young daughters when they get up and realize 2 of the Ducks are missing..

 

[jacyjones]

Poor you - that is awful. It is never easy losing birds in a predator attack, you have my sympathy. For the injured duck I would do a search on this forum as there is bound to be help for a broken wing. Is she eating and drinking? You need to try and keep her warm and dry and somewhere she can be calm. I hope there are suggestions for the wing - it is something I have never expereinced.
Foxes love ducks and will be back so you need to keep the others penned in safely and then build a proper enclosure. If foxes are hungry they will come in daylight - our last attack was in early evening this summer. You need to prevent the animals from digging into the run - we always bury the wire about 6inches to a foot in the ground. Some people wire the top - we have never needed to but the sides of our enclosure are 6 feet high. We shut the run and the coop at night and have never had a problem with foxes getting in after dark but I know you have other predators in the states so others on here will give you more advice.
Good luck and you need to use this as a learning situation for your children - I have been there and it is hard but they need to know about food chains and predators - sure is learning the hard way. After our first attack we tried not to let the children name the birds - it makes losing them even harder. Chin up and I hope your injured duck recovers.

 

[Bananarose24]

Thank you for the kind words. Right now the 2 remaining are in their duck house which is actually a playhouse. We tied some rope around the entire house to keep the windows shut for now. And covered up the door..

 

[Bananarose24]

How do we bury the wire in the ground that far down? We definitely want to do that, but, are not sure how..

 

[chickensioux]

I am so so sorry for your losses. I hope the injured one will be alright. Our enclosure has 1/2 inch hardware cloth. This will keep out everything. At night they are in a secure house. Not too much bigger than a large dog house. There are no openings bigger than a 1/2 inch. Rats, weasels, fox, coon or anything else (except for a bear) cannot get into the house they are kept in at night. I keep 13 call/mandarin in this house and enclosure.
A well built doghouse is all you would need for a smaller flock.
Again, so sorry for your loss.

 

[jacyjones]

Quote:
My husband digs a trench right round the run and literally buries the bottom 6 inches of wire in the trench but bending towards the outside of the run, kind of the wire lying in the earth and then up out of the ground so that if anything digs it just comes to more wire. Does that make sense?

 

[Bananarose24]

Yes it does, but, how does he keep the bend in it? Just forming it around the dirt or ??
I really appreciate the help. I havent stopped crying for the past hour.. I just cant believe this happened

 

[vicki2x2]

So sorry for your loss, that is always tough.

Here is some suggestions. Don't use chicken wire, it is only good for keeping chickens or ducks in, not for keeping predators out. A dog, coon or fox will rip it right open. Use something much stronger and lock them into a coop or house at night.

 

[Bananarose24]

Alright, well, what do you suggest then? I'm very open to ideas.. we will be heading to Lowes this afternoon (hubby worked night shift and does need a little sleep).

 

[katharinad]

Do not buy chicken wire. It does not offer any protection. Even a rat can bite through those wires. You want hardware cloth. Also consider to get electric fencing tape and a charger. They are real cheap protection, and you can get a charger that is strong enough for dogs and not cattle. You put a wire 6 inches from the ground and once on top of the fence. That keeps the climbers like raccoons out. The charger runs around 20 dollars and another 20 dollars will cover the other material for a small run. Money well worse spend.