Strange quaking

[Dancinbaer]

It's 2:30 AM and my hen mallard is floating in the pond quaking weirdly. We only have one drake and one hen. We've had them since June, they are around 16 weeks old. I went out in the yard by the pond to see what was going on. All I found was both ducks floating side by side in our small bond and the female letting out a series of quacks. Not excited quacks, just a steady string of 4 to 6 quacks with about a 30 to 60 second pause between series, like quack, quack, quack, quack, long pause, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. They weren't that loud either. I walked around thinking maybe another animal was in the yard but nothing. We live in the city and have a high fence around the yard.

Any thoughts? We are new to raising ducks and this is a first.

Thanks.

P.S. Just checked again, it's been about 30 minutes. She has slowed down to intermittent single quacks.

 

[duckncover]

Hmm. I don't know much about ducks but my duck and my parrots always alert me and each other of danger. Maybe they see something that you don't? Remember it's what they perceive as danger so it could be anything. Also if they are 16 weeks old maybe the change in behavior and quacking is because of hormones kicking in. Sorry I couldn't help much.

 

[Dancinbaer]

I also thought about the danger issue so I walked around the yard in the direction they were facing and found nothing. But than it was night time and my eyes aren't all that great even during the day. It's now 6:00AM and she's still letting out a quack every few minutes.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[duckins]

If your ducks aren't locked in a predator proof pen before dark than its a matter of time before something attacks them. No matter where you live city or country fencing or not. Most likely their was danger in the area. Wild ducks will stay in a pond if danger is about often time drowning or in winter freezing in icy ponds before they'll come out to meet their attacker. Again I strongly encourage locking them up each night.

 

[ChicagoDucks]

If your ducks aren't locked in a predator proof pen before dark than its a matter of time before something attacks them. No matter where you live city or country fencing or not. Most likely their was danger in the area. Wild ducks will stay in a pond if danger is about often time drowning or in winter freezing in icy ponds before they'll come out to meet their attacker. Again I strongly encourage locking them up each night.

This is good advice. I live in the city, and we had stray dogs jump our fence, break into our coop and kill some of our ducks. There are also BIG raccoons, oppossums and other mean nasty things in urban areas that would like a duck snack. You'll find that they are quieter at night too, if they have a secure coop to spend the night in.