You are most welcome, so glad to hear you only have one drake. That's always a good thing.thank you. he just kept getting worse and screaming in pain. He is no more in pain now Thanks God.
the 3 companion lings miss him too. and i can now happily report that only one of the 3 does not quack. pretty sure Cheerio is the only drake
The Quack Shack
- Thread starter Trimurtisan
- Start date
Almost got a heart-attack last night!
I was sitting on my porch, re-potting the remaining tomato plants, watching Sunny Sunshine incubating her seven (?) eggs and the five rescue ducklings trying to adopt her when...
All of the sudden a duck was screaming out of the top of her lungs, that scream: »Emergency! Life is Threatened! QUAACK!!!«
Jumped out of my recliner, dashed through the door and saw a raccoon trying to drag one of my runners through the gap between mt work-platform and the duck house. The duck was fighting back, but the trash-panda had her by the throat. I ran over, coon got startled and the duck escaped - briefly. All i had in my hand was a pruning shear and a quarter of a bamboo-stick, 30cm long, that i had just cut to make a support for a tomato plant. That bamboo stick had a pointy end, very sharp and very pointy… 🗡
Grabbed and threw the duck behind me, but the varmint lashed out and bruised my hand after which i kicked it into that hole in between both buildings. It ran away finally…
The duck was shivering and in total panic-mode, ran left, right, back and forth and i was afraid it would ran away only to be eaten by another predator after it had just escaped. I opened the door to the duck house and she ran in and caused multiple noise-complaints from my neighbors this morning.
What the duck had happened? - I examined the whole duck-house (in the middle of the night with my phone as a torch, wearing my pajamas and slippers) and could not find any point of entry or a hole where the bandit could have dragged a duck out. - Nothing!
So my conclusion is that the duck had hid somewhere when it was bed-time to sleep outside. They sometimes do that and i am aware of all the hiding spots and check them out before closing the door to the house. Obviously she must have found a new place, but revised her decision later, walked to the duck house door and laid down as close to her sisters as possible. Right in front of the door, right in front of the gap between the duck-house and the work-platform.
Had i not been on the porch that late into the night - it was after midnight, the masked duck killer would have had duck for dinner!
Checked on her this morning, but other than a scratch on her neck she is doing fine. No limping no wounds, quacking, drinking and eating. A little less sassy than before.
I was sitting on my porch, re-potting the remaining tomato plants, watching Sunny Sunshine incubating her seven (?) eggs and the five rescue ducklings trying to adopt her when...
All of the sudden a duck was screaming out of the top of her lungs, that scream: »Emergency! Life is Threatened! QUAACK!!!«
Jumped out of my recliner, dashed through the door and saw a raccoon trying to drag one of my runners through the gap between mt work-platform and the duck house. The duck was fighting back, but the trash-panda had her by the throat. I ran over, coon got startled and the duck escaped - briefly. All i had in my hand was a pruning shear and a quarter of a bamboo-stick, 30cm long, that i had just cut to make a support for a tomato plant. That bamboo stick had a pointy end, very sharp and very pointy… 🗡
Grabbed and threw the duck behind me, but the varmint lashed out and bruised my hand after which i kicked it into that hole in between both buildings. It ran away finally…
The duck was shivering and in total panic-mode, ran left, right, back and forth and i was afraid it would ran away only to be eaten by another predator after it had just escaped. I opened the door to the duck house and she ran in and caused multiple noise-complaints from my neighbors this morning.
What the duck had happened? - I examined the whole duck-house (in the middle of the night with my phone as a torch, wearing my pajamas and slippers) and could not find any point of entry or a hole where the bandit could have dragged a duck out. - Nothing!
So my conclusion is that the duck had hid somewhere when it was bed-time to sleep outside. They sometimes do that and i am aware of all the hiding spots and check them out before closing the door to the house. Obviously she must have found a new place, but revised her decision later, walked to the duck house door and laid down as close to her sisters as possible. Right in front of the door, right in front of the gap between the duck-house and the work-platform.
Had i not been on the porch that late into the night - it was after midnight, the masked duck killer would have had duck for dinner!
Checked on her this morning, but other than a scratch on her neck she is doing fine. No limping no wounds, quacking, drinking and eating. A little less sassy than before.
Just a draining, bad and busy week…
Last edited:
Sorry to hear about my name-sake gosling!
Sometimes these things happen and there's nothing we can do about it…
As for the »don't move« part: Yes, it is instinct. My ducks are always watching the sky, the drakes more than the ducks. They will quickly learn that small aircraft and those big bulky transport planes from the National Guard don't pose a thread. However these pesky commercial city-hoppers are always ready to snatch an unsuspecting duck.
I hope that it did not break the skin Frank. They can carry rabies and other diseases. They are terrible predators and I am sure it will try to return. I am glad that you were able to save her.
Winter is here with all its wintery plagueness. 9 sleeps to go until winter solstice, which means 9 sleeps until my ducks will begin to lay again! Or atleast that is how my previous flock behaved.
I have been distracted by emus and ostrich chicks, haha. Also dealing with rebuilding my flock after the dog attack - not sure if I shared about that in here - but I have guinea keets AND chicks arriving this week. Not sure how I managed to accidentally schedule them for the same week, but that ought to keep me busy, haha.
It is just a bruise, but that bandit was not rabid. It was clear as distilled-water in its mind and not driven by a brain altering virus.
So far it has not returned this night but the peanut-buttered trap is set…
Which also means nine sleeps before the summer solstice here and then the days become shorter and shorter and shorter and …
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