I raised 4 ducklings from TSC, 3 males 1 female starting April, this year, and two more females from July. The one female was laying eggs, all over the place, and the 2 juveniles needed to be separated until late November, but all on a 70 acre rolling former cattle farm, with a good size pond, in North Carolina.
The 4 would every now & then go into their pen at night, always much later than the guinea fowl & chickens. I used a white proso millet treat which they are quite fond of, a small cup container along with their other feed, in the evening. For 3 weeks I kept them locked in the pen except when someone is on site, at least twice a week they could go out.
After the 3 weeks, they have an automatic door that opens at 10:45 AM and closes about 30 minutes after dark. This is what I use for the guinea fowl and the chickens, and I average 1 or 2 guinea fowl out every 2 weeks or so.
So the ducks would hang around with the chickens, preferring the 4 foot diameter wading pool they grew up with over the maybe 1/2 acre pond about 600 feet away. I would herd the 6 down to the pond twice a week, they stay in for 10-15 minutes, then back up the hill to their house & coops, and either wading pool, one in the duck coop and one near a building that they can shelter under.
If there was an aerial predator in the area, the guineas sound an alarm and everyone heads for cover, it is quite comical to see the coordinated mad rush under the buildings and/or coops.
Recently a pair of donkeys took up residence, which I incorrectly assumed would deter predators even further. We can hear coyotes far off, in the evening, and see a fox now & then. The guineas have confronted a fox on two occasions, the fox left rather than tangle with those loud birds. A small skunk and an opossum have raided guinea nests when they get broody out in the fields.
Over the weekend, an unknown predator got the oldest female and one of the males, about 7 feathers left in one location and more than half of the feathers some ripped out obviously, both carcasses were nowhere to be seen. These are full grown, so not easy for smaller predators to carry off.
This might have happened early in the morning, with some daylight. I lost several guinea fowl before I realized I can't let them out at sunrise. There is usually someone on site maybe 4 times a week by 10:45A,
so I assume the predators are deterred by human activity.
The 4 survivors stayed down by the pond all day, (today) not going in, and showed no sign of wanting to go back to their favorite resting spot, so they had to have witnessed the attack.
I've had chickens & guineas stay out a few nights after being traumatized by a dog, not sure how these will react. This evening, they were nowhere to be found, even after building them a small shelter to keep their food dry, so I assume they found a safe place, maybe out on the water where my flashlight didn't reach.
I continue to reinforce the training for the other birds, maybe once a week, but they seem much more inclined to be in a coop in the evening than the ducks.
While there may be no solution for this, I figured a share might be helpful..
The 4 would every now & then go into their pen at night, always much later than the guinea fowl & chickens. I used a white proso millet treat which they are quite fond of, a small cup container along with their other feed, in the evening. For 3 weeks I kept them locked in the pen except when someone is on site, at least twice a week they could go out.
After the 3 weeks, they have an automatic door that opens at 10:45 AM and closes about 30 minutes after dark. This is what I use for the guinea fowl and the chickens, and I average 1 or 2 guinea fowl out every 2 weeks or so.
So the ducks would hang around with the chickens, preferring the 4 foot diameter wading pool they grew up with over the maybe 1/2 acre pond about 600 feet away. I would herd the 6 down to the pond twice a week, they stay in for 10-15 minutes, then back up the hill to their house & coops, and either wading pool, one in the duck coop and one near a building that they can shelter under.
If there was an aerial predator in the area, the guineas sound an alarm and everyone heads for cover, it is quite comical to see the coordinated mad rush under the buildings and/or coops.
Recently a pair of donkeys took up residence, which I incorrectly assumed would deter predators even further. We can hear coyotes far off, in the evening, and see a fox now & then. The guineas have confronted a fox on two occasions, the fox left rather than tangle with those loud birds. A small skunk and an opossum have raided guinea nests when they get broody out in the fields.
Over the weekend, an unknown predator got the oldest female and one of the males, about 7 feathers left in one location and more than half of the feathers some ripped out obviously, both carcasses were nowhere to be seen. These are full grown, so not easy for smaller predators to carry off.
This might have happened early in the morning, with some daylight. I lost several guinea fowl before I realized I can't let them out at sunrise. There is usually someone on site maybe 4 times a week by 10:45A,
so I assume the predators are deterred by human activity.
The 4 survivors stayed down by the pond all day, (today) not going in, and showed no sign of wanting to go back to their favorite resting spot, so they had to have witnessed the attack.
I've had chickens & guineas stay out a few nights after being traumatized by a dog, not sure how these will react. This evening, they were nowhere to be found, even after building them a small shelter to keep their food dry, so I assume they found a safe place, maybe out on the water where my flashlight didn't reach.
I continue to reinforce the training for the other birds, maybe once a week, but they seem much more inclined to be in a coop in the evening than the ducks.
While there may be no solution for this, I figured a share might be helpful..
