Today is a sad day...

[tull14]

This morning when we woke up our beloved Pekins were gone. The hard headed rascals refused to go in their pen at night so I guess it was only a matter of time. Our Puddles and Quackers are gone. We found the body of one (not sure which, my husband had to go pick it up) and the other is no where to be found.

My son who is 3 noticed right away this morning, Mommy where are my ducks. I have been thinking about this all day at work on what to tell him... He really loved those two, maybe the babies that are to hatch in a couple of weeks will take his mind off of Puddles and Quackers being gone.

My 3 year old with our male, Quackers

 

[chickenboy190]

I'm so sorry

 

[BlackberryAcres]

Oh man, I'm so sorry. It makes it so much worse having to tell kids.

Ours did that before too. That's when we started only feeding them at night. They come in for dinner and we close the door. It's the only thing that would motivate them to get into a safe location.

((((HUGS))))

 

[ChicagoDucks]

I am so sorry to hear this! That is terrible news.

We lost 4 of our 6 ducks to stray dogs last winter-- the dogs broke into the coop. We decided to tell our 4 and 2 year old the truth about it, which wasn't easy for us or them. Tough to have the life and death conversation when they are so young. Our 4 year old was sad, but she was also really concerned and curious about what it all meant and why animals die. Our 2 year old didn't quite understand, he just knew it was really important and listened. We talked about it a lot for a couple months and it was tough. Later when we had eggs that quit on day 27, our 4 yo wanted to bury them in a nice part of the yard and she dealt with it heroically. And when we went to a funeral last month, she seemed to understand what was going on a lot better than I would have thought. If you decide to tell your son what happened, be prepared for a lot of tough questions and to repeat the story of what happened to the ducks a lot!

 

[Going Quackers]

I'm sorry, i do understand they can be difficult at times to get in, i have spent many a time wandering around till after 10PM in search of a duck(usually, because one has gone off nesting, i mainly have Muscovy, they are very broody prone)

That's a sweet pic of your son, children benefit greatly from pets.

 

[duckins]

So sorry for your losses.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So very sorry for your losses