The Duck-ponics Experiment - Raising minnows

[Wifezilla]

Not a single trace!!!! Uno and about 8 eggs are missing. Last night I thought maybe she went broody and is hiding a nest, but there is no place she can hide I didn't check!

 

[rainplace]

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Oh NO!! I'm so sorry

 

[Wifezilla]

This is driving me crazy.

I am thinking it had to be a 2 legged predator.

I placed a craigslist ad in case she suddenly decided to fly and made it over the gate....but I doubt it. She is too fat

 

[DuckMamaorBust]

Really?! People will come into your yard and steal ducks? Maybe I am too trusting or too naive but I just can't imagine someone duck-napping. Is there a black duck market?

I'm really sorry to hear you lost one of your girls. They sound wonderful. You recently posted a picture of Uno didn't you? When it came to good names for ducklings born alone in a batch?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Quote:
What a horrible feeling that someone would do that!!
But by process of elimination what else could it be?? A raccoon would leave a mess, and I don't think a hawk or fox would take the eggs with the duck. I don't know. Too bad cameras are so expensive.
BTW do you have to replace the filter or will it thaw out OK? (Sorry I am so ignorant.) Someday if I get enough confidence and energy I might try to do a Duck-ponics pond too.

 

[Wifezilla]

The filter thawed and everything is running again.

We did a thorough check of the property again. No feathers (other than a few molted ones that were there when we left), no blood, no dug areas under our 6 ft privacy fence OR the duck pen. No blood or feathers in the neighbor's yards on either side of us or in the alley.

Eggs yesterday and eggs today.

However, Wendy has been a bit listless since we got back. We are spiking the water with ACV and vitamins just in case. It is possible something tried to grab her, but then got Uno instead.

I do think we need to get a trail cam. We have an old camera system but I don't know if it works anymore. I will dig it out and see what we need. I think we stopped using it after all of our VCRs broke and we never replaced them.

 

[DuckMamaorBust]

Quote:
We have a camera we use to watch if anyone comes to the house when we are away. It is motion activated and the images are accessible over the web. Here is a link to a brief description:
http://www.techgiftguide.com/lifestyle/panasonic-bl-c131-network-camera/122

 

[rainplace]

I've been wondering about the freezing. Do you plan to do anything specific to keep it from freezing during the winter, or do you plan on taking the gravel beds offline?

 

[Wifezilla]

I think I am just going to take the beds out of the line, but I am actually going to let it run for a while and see what happens. The circulating water may be enough to keep them from freezing. If not I might end up with a nice ice skating pond