It was exactly like that during this night... First the fox barking somewhere close and then the duck chorus activated like "hey hey over here"I know right!?
I hear the dux at night and I think..
Do they just WANT to be eaten by predators?
Come on man .. be quiet!
The Quack Shack
- Thread starter Trimurtisan
- Start date
Also the young ducks still won't leave the house on their owntomorrow I'll move their favorite purple basin into a place where they can see it from the house and loudly splash fresh water into it.
Well, this is how it went...
1. Poured fresh water into the basin. Ducks group at the door but don't even poke their bills out.
2. Stir the water with my hand. A bit more interest but nah.
3. Bring in peas. Hasn't worked in the past but generally one of the strongest duck motivators in our repertoire. Sprinkle on the floor and along the ramp. Some tentative interest. Ducks' heads come out of the door briefly and then NOOO SCARY and they withdraw back.
4. Having spent all the peas, prepare another batch in a flat plastic basin. Put it at the top of the ramp where it meets the house. The more adventurous ducks come and peck at it and are excited.
5. Move the peas slowly down along the ramp. Some 10 cm (4 inches) is enough for the ducks to become more fearful than greedy. And that's at 10 AM, 3 hrs after the veterans have been let out and have started roaming around the orchard happily, and no food or water inside the house. Would they rather starve than venture out? Really terrible.
6. Repeat the slowly-moving-peas thing several times. I notice that it kinda slides along the ramp (need better anti-slip cover for the ramp). So I leave it at the top and it auto-slides down as they peck at it.
7. One duck is particularly brave and kinda jumps into the pea basin, resulting in having a slide ride to more or less the bottom. Once at the ground level the duck discovers that there are more peas lying around as well as a nice basin of fresh water.
8. It is still in 2 minds about the situation because there's just ONE duck down there and ALL the others up there and ducks decide by majority, not like sheep where you can throw one off the truck and the rest will follow. But the attraction of peas and water is overwhelming and the lone duck is also kinda scared of the plastic pea basin that it got a ride in being positioned on the ramp, so it stays on the ground and enjoys the offerings.
9. SUCCESS! In 10 min or so we hear feet and feathers and the entire group has descended. YAY!
(I'm sure tomorrow will be like today never happened...)
Now we need a video.
Today's update:
- sprinkled peas along the ramp and set the pea basin at the bottom
- boom! most of the ducks come out and to the ground ... amazing
- but 2 (i think the "middle ducks" - April's ones) remain careful, only coming to the door to have a peek
- let's take the dog for a walk, maybe the situation will improve meanwhile
- it did! as we return all the young ducks are out of the house
Hooray!
p
YaaaaaY !!
Congrats!!! Sometimes they can just be a little slow at catching on.
A very stressful Sunday…
Sunny and her family woke me up really early, before sunrise and they insisted to go outside, so i let them out at 6:30, opened the door to the duck-run and fed everybody some treats, then made breakfast for me.
About an hour later the duck danger alarm went off!
I peeked out of the window and saw three coyotes running towards the flock, grabbed a shovel while dashing outside to confront the coyotes. Two ran away, the third one had Mr. Boots in his mouth, but let him go when seeing me and charged towards me.
No clear memory of what happened next, but it seems that the strange West Virginia weather saved me: An area of very high pressure formed in the atmosphere, right over the 'yotes head, causing a severe trauma and immediate termination…
Sadly the other two got away and took Annifrid, my last Black Swedish hen with her.
.
.
.
Ideas how to protect against coyotes? - The one that became a victim of the variations in air pressure was very skinny as if it hadn't eaten in a long time.
With the intention to scare them away, I set up a pallet on the hill-site and placed the dead coyote in plain view for the others to see and to feed the turkey-vultures. The ducks disagreed about the huge vultures so close to them, but they have to endure. And these vultures have no interest in the living.
Afaik, fences don't really protect against hungry coyotes, unless they are a mile high and under dangerously high voltage. And even then they might dig under it. @Magnolia Ducks , what did you do against coyotes?
I still have some of these almost invisible bird-netting, so would it be a good idea to hang these between the trees, using weak plastic strips? The idea is that the ducks will be able to run under the netting, but a coyote will hit the net, rip it down, become entangled and incapacitated.
Has anybody experience with traps for coyotes?
Last thing, where can i by a new handle for my shovel? - It broke somehow and the stores here only sell shovels, no handles.
Sunny and her family woke me up really early, before sunrise and they insisted to go outside, so i let them out at 6:30, opened the door to the duck-run and fed everybody some treats, then made breakfast for me.
About an hour later the duck danger alarm went off!
I peeked out of the window and saw three coyotes running towards the flock, grabbed a shovel while dashing outside to confront the coyotes. Two ran away, the third one had Mr. Boots in his mouth, but let him go when seeing me and charged towards me.
No clear memory of what happened next, but it seems that the strange West Virginia weather saved me: An area of very high pressure formed in the atmosphere, right over the 'yotes head, causing a severe trauma and immediate termination…
Sadly the other two got away and took Annifrid, my last Black Swedish hen with her.
.
.
.
Ideas how to protect against coyotes? - The one that became a victim of the variations in air pressure was very skinny as if it hadn't eaten in a long time.
With the intention to scare them away, I set up a pallet on the hill-site and placed the dead coyote in plain view for the others to see and to feed the turkey-vultures. The ducks disagreed about the huge vultures so close to them, but they have to endure. And these vultures have no interest in the living.
Afaik, fences don't really protect against hungry coyotes, unless they are a mile high and under dangerously high voltage. And even then they might dig under it. @Magnolia Ducks , what did you do against coyotes?
I still have some of these almost invisible bird-netting, so would it be a good idea to hang these between the trees, using weak plastic strips? The idea is that the ducks will be able to run under the netting, but a coyote will hit the net, rip it down, become entangled and incapacitated.
Has anybody experience with traps for coyotes?
Last thing, where can i by a new handle for my shovel? - It broke somehow and the stores here only sell shovels, no handles.
You will remember this morning in the future while trying to herd a group of stubborn, not so young anymore ducks into their house in the evening…
I'm sorry to hear thisA very stressful Sunday…
Sunny and her family woke me up really early, before sunrise and they insisted to go outside, so i let them out at 6:30, opened the door to the duck-run and fed everybody some treats, then made breakfast for me.
About an hour later the duck danger alarm went off!
I peeked out of the window and saw three coyotes running towards the flock, grabbed a shovel while dashing outside to confront the coyotes. Two ran away, the third one had Mr. Boots in his mouth, but let him go when seeing me and charged towards me.
No clear memory of what happened next, but it seems that the strange West Virginia weather saved me: An area of very high pressure formed in the atmosphere, right over the 'yotes head, causing a severe trauma and immediate termination…
Sadly the other two got away and took Annifrid, my last Black Swedish hen with her.
.
.
.
Ideas how to protect against coyotes? - The one that became a victim of the variations in air pressure was very skinny as if it hadn't eaten in a long time.
With the intention to scare them away, I set up a pallet on the hill-site and placed the dead coyote in plain view for the others to see and to feed the turkey-vultures. The ducks disagreed about the huge vultures so close to them, but they have to endure. And these vultures have no interest in the living.
Afaik, fences don't really protect against hungry coyotes, unless they are a mile high and under dangerously high voltage. And even then they might dig under it. @Magnolia Ducks , what did you do against coyotes?
I still have some of these almost invisible bird-netting, so would it be a good idea to hang these between the trees, using weak plastic strips? The idea is that the ducks will be able to run under the netting, but a coyote will hit the net, rip it down, become entangled and incapacitated.
Has anybody experience with traps for coyotes?
Last thing, where can i by a new handle for my shovel? - It broke somehow and the stores here only sell shovels, no handles.
I can barely protect against a fox, I wouldn't know what to do about a pack of 'yotes. Maybe it's time for you to get a livestock dog. Or some Canada Geese.Lesson to be learned: do not anger your friendly neighbourhood German! Unless you want a shovel broken over your head!
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