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

[Bananarose24]

Alright I found the hardware cloth on Lowes website.
Cant find the electric fencing tape on their site.. I dont really understand how that works. Is it just a tape or is it wire, you just put it along the bottom of the run and you just hook it up to a charger? It doesnt need to be hooked in to the house in anyway?

 

[katharinad]

It's usually a white cloth strip with metal wires in it or straight metal wire. You buy plastic clips to mount it to your fence. Then you have one or two metal rods that gets pound into the ground. All of them get hooked up to the charger, which is plugged into a regular outlet. That is it. Installation is really easy, and the store will give you a pamphlet with instructions. Anyone can do it, that is how simple it is. You will need to check with your feed store or Tractor Supply Store, since this is usually not available to Lowes.

 

[Bananarose24]

That sounds great, but, we have 2 young girls. How bad is the shock if they were to touch it?
Heading out to Lowes, getting all the supplies to build everything. Will have that done by tonight

Thank you for all the ideas and help and support

 

[katharinad]

They have a lot of different chargers. Really strong ones for horses/cattle all the way down to rabbits. In general the cheaper the less power. Try to get one for coyotes so you are covered with the foxes. These are not that strong, but it will scare a child. I guess it all depends on the children and their ages. You can plug the charger into an outlet timer and program that one only to be on at night. That way you don't have to worry about your young children. The charger usually has a small led light that comes on when in service. So you can look at it and know when not to touch the electric wire/tape. Quite honest I would not worry about a child above 5 years of age when using a charger for small animals. They may touch it once, but will learn a good lesson from that. There wont be a burn or lasting damage, just a very good memory of what not to touch after been told so.

 

[FenDruadin]

I'm so sorry for your loss!!

I lost all but one of my original flock to a fox. They were in an enclosure, but I underestimated a fox's strength and it pushed right on in. So you're not alone, and you really shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It happens, and now you know. Your girls will be okay, too. I think it's healthy for children to learn to grieve for a pet, as it prepares them for the realities of life which, unfortunately, include death at times. I'm also a proponent of letting children see the bodies if they choose to do so, as I think it helps them process the death.

As for the electric fence hurting them, it will hurt a lot. But it will not injure them if it's installed correctly (i.e., following the manufacturer's instructions). I installed electric fencing for my goats last year, and goat fencing uses a very high voltage. I tried to keep my then one-year-old away from the fence, but he got to it one afternoon while I was feeding my ducks, and the first I knew was when he started screaming. Because of the way the electricity travels through the body, it doesn't just hurt the hands that are touching the fence, so he didn't instinctively know to let go--he was still holding on. I ran over, removed him (I must have grabbed him between pulses because I didn't get hurt myself--the electricity will travel through as many bodies as are connected to whoever is connected to the fence), and he was fine. He is two now, and he knows to steer well clear of that fence, but he sustained no injuries from the incident. It's not how I would have preferred to find out that the fence won't injure a small child, but it was effective. The literature that comes with the fence will tell you that it's important not to let their *heads* come in contact with the fence. Apparently, it can be harmful (even potentially fatal) if a child is on all fours (i.e., lots of contact with the ground) and puts their head against the fence. As far as I know, there is only one known instance of that killing a child, but it's enough that the fencing always carries that warning. If your girls are above the age of crawling, it shouldn't be an issue.

Also, of course, if they're old enough you can teach them verbally to stay away.

Anyway--you've gotten really good ideas here. Everyone does it a little differently. With just one duck, you could easily just shut her into a dog house at night, with the opening securely closed. If she's full grown, she can be fine without food and water overnight. I use a chain link dog kennel, with hardware cloth around the bottom 18" to prevent raccoons reaching through and eating their heads off (which they will do--I learned the hard way). I installed the kennel over wire fencing laid on the ground and topped with mulch. Then I covered the top with more wire.

However, if I had it to do again, I'd probably skip the top & bottom wire and go with the electric tape close to the ground and maybe another strand at chest height or so.

Of course, you're going to need to find your baby a companion as quickly as you can. She'll be terribly lonely until you do. When I had just the one survivor, she didn't eat for several days, and then she would only eat if we were standing right beside her. It took me a while to find her some companions, and she became very attached to us in the meantime. We had to hand feed her or she would just ignore the food. Once she had companions, she remained friendly toward us but went back to being a normal duck with normal ducky ways. Anyway, if you mention your location, probably someone here on these boards is near you and might have a duck or two to spare.

Good luck!

 

[katharinad]

Again it depends on the charger and how much jolt they produce. Here is a link for one that controls small animals:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/fencin...c-controllers/zareba-2-mile-ac-fencer-3680003
The more jolt the more dangerous they can be. I once touched one for cattle by accident, and my hand was hurting for 2 weeks afterwards. Wasn't fun. I know the 7 year old boy who touched on for small animals and he had not signs whatsoever. He was actually joking about it so it could have not been that bad at all.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
Chicken wire is no protection against predators likr coons, foxes, or dogs. Waste of time and money.
Here in Florida I house mine birds overnight including ducks in chain link steel framed kennel with added metal roof and 2X4 wire covering the floor so predators can't dig under. In colder climat shed or predator proof coop must be built, but please: FORGET chicken wire if you want to avoid another tragedy.

My birds sleep safe and I sleep well.

 

[Broodica]

I feel so bad for you. How awful!

We're out in the country, so trying to keep out everything, including cougars and black bears, so this might be over kill, but I just posted this in the building coops section:

We are new to ducks/chickens, and haven't put ours in the coop yet, but my husband is busy building it.

We live out in the country in the foothills of the Cascades and have every imaginable predator the state of Washington can throw at us. We were doing the trench thing around the base of the coop/duckhouse/run to bury the hardware cloth, when a neighbor came over (he has chickens) and suggested instead of burying the hardware cloth, to dig it under the structure and lay it so it actually forms the bottom of the structure, overlapping each sheet by about 3-4". We cut about 24" excess on either side, and then ran it up the sides over the regular fencing so the bottom of the fence is extra protected. We then layed about 5 inches of dirt on top of the 1/2" wire and my husband is going to pour concrete in the trenches we had already dug....why not? My neighbor claims nothing will be able to dig under and get through. We are going to put an electric fence wire above the hardware cloth that comes up on the outside. We have galvanized steel framed 6' chain link fencing as it was an old dog run, and we already have another electric wire over the top of that. We are also putting hardware wire over the top so that the run is totally enclosed. We figure if anything makes it over the electric fence, they'll still be stuck up there and hopefully not fall through! The beasts will be able to free run during part of the day in the rest of the enclosure, which still makes me nervous (hawks and bald eagles) and will be locked up at night.

That's where we've gotten so far! The actual coop is a large, old doghouse with a covered porch. We haven't begun to work on that yet. I am kind of hoping the ducks and chickens will just hang together in the coop at night, but just in case, we will be putting another doghouse in there for the ducks. Both will have close fitting doors and protected ventilation. We have 4 ducklings and 4 chicks (2 weeks old).

Waddaya think so far? My husband calls it the bunker, but I keep hearing stories of those ever "get into the coop" evolving predators!

Thanks!

 

[Ducksx5]

I feel for you. We had purchased a six-pack of "just born" pekin ducks last year. One disappeared wothout a trace; however, the other five thrived through the season and we found them a winter home (as their current home was inadequate for the harsh winters in WNY).

All five came back in the early spring. We have a 24 x 30 dog pen area we use for the ducks. There were two box enclosures for their food bin and water source. We also have a 3 acre pond they used during the day.

One duck was attacked and killed in the pen area. This left 4 ducks. The next night I woke up to the ducks making a lot of noise in their pen in the middle of the night. When I went to investigate there was a huge raccoon in the pen. The next day we went to Lowes and bought a dog house and installed a hinged door with a slide lock, added some dry cedar bedding and coerced the remaining ducks into their new nght time house every night at duck. This was working until we went on vacation in June and left the house and animals under the care of others. They forgot to put the ducks away for the night and we got an early morning phone call telling us another duck was killed and a second had a severe neck wound.

Down to three ducks. The injured survivor was nicknamed "Lucky" as we nursed her back to health and she survived (for 4 weeks). We came home to find her headless on the shore of the pond. I had two traumatized drakes left. Then two weeks later we found one of those ducks had been attacked by a snapping turtle in the pond. He was missing half of his upper beak and looked terrible. I nursed him back to health with lots of clean water and antibiotic spray.

To date these guys do not want to go down to the pond and are content to stay in their enclosure. They look forward to their daily shower from the hose and fresh food. They know to get into their dog house when the darkness comes.

It's a terrible experience to go through......nature is harsh. Good luck to you and yours!

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Oh - how heartbreaking.

I hope you get good advice for your duck with the fractured wing.

I built a duck house out of recycled fence boards. I put hardware cloth and 2 x 4 fencing. My eight little ones go in on their own when it gets dark and I go out and close/ lock the door.

This sits in a 12' x 24' x 6' tall dog kennel that has arched tarp over half with bird netting over the other half to protect against flying preditors.