Something killed 7 of my ducks

[cmom]

Also I recommend putting an audio monitor near your birds. They are very cheap and saved my chickens. And a nightlite, chickens make a lot of noise when they can see the attacker.

So true... All of my coops have nightlights. If there is someting prowling around they will make a racket. I usually take my car down at night if I hear the birds but probably as soon as I start my engine the predator will take off. I never see anything but the birds quiet down, so I know the predator has left. Nothing so far has gotten past the electric wire around the coops and pens. I have a couple of gates that need to be replaced soon. I have the materials just have to get my rear in gear and get them done. Now that hatching is over I can do them. There is cement under the gates. I do have some wood on the ground in front of those gates with long staples sticking out so if anything walks on the wood they will get the staples in their feet. We had a hurricane a couple of years ago and lost power for a week. I did leave a radio on in the barn which is behind the coops with a religious talk radio station on. I thought if the predators heard voices they may not hang around. Luckily I had no issues that week. I do have a power supply down in the barn and I was able to keep the nightlights running at night but they only draw about 1 watt each and each coop has a light. We had a generator but it wasn't large enough to handle everything so we time shared it. I could charge the power supply during the day. The radio ran on batteries, I turned it off in the morning and on in the evenings when I went out to collect the eggs.

 

[Emmaschooks]

I’m pleased to report after 4 nights and the laying of many, MANY paving slabs the fox has not managed to get in again. It was indeed a fox, the camera trap showed a small one moving around once it was dark. I think its pretty lazy because it just seemed to come up to the main gate, sniff around and then leave once there was no obvious way in. I’m still going to be vigilant for a good few weeks, and I’m locking the chicken mothers with chicks in at night to at least protect some of my population for definite. The others (including the ducks and geese) all prefer sleeping out.
My poor ducks are doing much better and are happier now though the pen seems empty still