The Quack Shack

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I can leave my dog unattended. She is half Aussie so protects them. All three cats can be left unattended with the babies or the adults. I dont know why but they seem to know no touch.

I cannot leave my ducks unattended with the tomato and pepper plants…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Its really weird. My oldest cat kills squirrels and rabbits if I don't watch him. He also goes for mice. But I've raised at least 15 sets of ducklings that he has full access to including at night while I'm asleep and he's never touched one.

They know who's family and who's prey.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Happy Saturday to Everybody!​

The ducks woke me up early! - Poked my head out of the window to investigate what's all that quack about and saw two raccoons eating the left-overs in the duck-yard. - The Mallards haven't cleaned their plate.
Just three days ago another trash-panda volunteered to my soil-improvement project…
I lost track, but my soil has become very fertile in a lot of spots.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good Morning/Evening to you All.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

Happy Saturday to Everybody!​

The ducks woke me up early! - Poked my head out of the window to investigate what's all that quack about and saw two raccoons eating the left-overs in the duck-yard. - The Mallards haven't cleaned their plate.
Just three days ago another trash-panda volunteered to my soil-improvement project…
I lost track, but my soil has become very fertile in a lot of spots.

Trash pandas . We have bin chickens.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Greetings folks! Hope the world is treating you well!

 

[Supercow]

Hey everybody... some bad news this time

In my professional life I say to every newcomer that they should make a mistake as soon as possible - big enough to matter, not big enough to make them give up. Just something to put you in your place and proceed with a good balance of optimism and caution.

Well, yesterday 6 ducks went into their house in the evening and this morning, 5 came out.

No feathers, no blood, no duck.

The wire fastening the door at night was unrolled and one of the 2 large pieces of wood leaning on the door overnight found on the ground, the other one still standing. I have a hard time imagining how anything can get in and pull out a fat duck with the situation remaining as described. But as I've been reading predators are disciples of Houdini and anyway, I have no other option than to believe it happened.

The 5 survivors don't seem to be extra skittish or harmed in any way (wounds, obviously missing feathers...).

Two nights ago our dogs went berserk in the evening, barking like mad and trying to jump over the fence - guess that must have been the scouting run. But yesterday, sadly, no. The thing is that while they are in general very good watchdogs, we don't yet dare to leave them running around with the ducks as then the number of ducks might decrease even more. Also they really want to be with their humans at night.

We took some steps to fortify the door - a bolt, some more fastening points... I also checked the floor (it's raised), the walls, the ceiling, it all looks in good shape. Reading up on electrical fencing.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so sorry, do you suspect a 2 legged predator or 4?

 

[Supercow]

From the state of the duck house and the fact that no other duck was harmed in any way - it would seem sensible to conclude 2 legs.

But I really have a hard time imagining that. We are in a a village, we're in good relations with neighbors (one of them has about 100 chickens), and if you really want to go out of your way to steal something from us during the night there are far more valuable items (power tools, bikes...) lying around than a duck.

Nevertheless I'm thinking about a camera (maybe just a fake one would already have an effect).

 

[Canadian Wind]

Hey everybody... some bad news this time

In my professional life I say to every newcomer that they should make a mistake as soon as possible - big enough to matter, not big enough to make them give up. Just something to put you in your place and proceed with a good balance of optimism and caution.

Well, yesterday 6 ducks went into their house in the evening and this morning, 5 came out.

No feathers, no blood, no duck.

The wire fastening the door at night was unrolled and one of the 2 large pieces of wood leaning on the door overnight found on the ground, the other one still standing. I have a hard time imagining how anything can get in and pull out a fat duck with the situation remaining as described. But as I've been reading predators are disciples of Houdini and anyway, I have no other option than to believe it happened.

The 5 survivors don't seem to be extra skittish or harmed in any way (wounds, obviously missing feathers...).

Two nights ago our dogs went berserk in the evening, barking like mad and trying to jump over the fence - guess that must have been the scouting run. But yesterday, sadly, no. The thing is that while they are in general very good watchdogs, we don't yet dare to leave them running around with the ducks as then the number of ducks might decrease even more. Also they really want to be with their humans at night.

We took some steps to fortify the door - a bolt, some more fastening points... I also checked the floor (it's raised), the walls, the ceiling, it all looks in good shape. Reading up on electrical fencing.

I'm sorry to hear this! Perhaps investing in a live trap?