TSC ducklings - Guess the breed.

[Miss Lydia]

It was terrible!

I was outside with the ducks for their evening romp and a freak storm started out of nowhere. I scooped them and ran in, dropped them off in their brooder and ran to let the dogs in before they were soaked and stinky. I had been introducing them in small increments. The 2 Labs are older and pretty obedient. One of them is actually scared of the duckies. We also have a small English bulldog/Rottweiler mix. She is 3 and not that smart. I was collecting the ducks to move to their other brooder in the closed off room, and the bulldog grabbed one as I was picking them up. Unlike the Labs, who by nature soft mouth prey, the bulldog has those dang vise grip jaws. When we tell her to leave or drop something, she bites harder, so instead of that I had to grab her mouth and pull her jaws open to release the duckling. As I had the offending dog pinned down with my knee the duckling ran around the side of the brooder. I scooped it up and it seemed ok at first glance. As I was putting the offender in her crate I could see the duckling start to writhe. His little head started to flop funny as I cradled him in a stable position so I started to massage his little body. Within a few seconds he was gone. The tiniest puncture wound in the abdomen area with one tiny drop of blood. I think some internal organs were crushed or there was a spinal injury.

In contrast, the Labs waited patiently as I held the duckling and watched intently. My black Lab then went to lay down in front of the bedroom door to guard the other two ducks. My chocolate Lab came over to nudge the duckling a few times. Since then, when they come in to eat, she checks the brooder, sees two ducks then takes to searching for the other, pacing around double and triple checking.

From the first few raindrops to the death was hardly 3 minutes but it seemed like an hour long cascade of hysteria. From the bite to death was under half a minute. Just proves that everything changes, literally in this case, in the blink of an eye. Ugh. The first failure of being a new duck mom and it had to be such an ultimate result, and so soon into this journey. And I get a frequent reminder of my failure because now, the remaining twin freaks out if it is separated from the other duck for even a split second. Maybe those two really were double yolk ducky twins and I let this rarity perish?!!! Oh, the tragedy!

Anyway, now I am rethinking our future flock and livestock plans. As finances allowed, we were going to fence the property and have fenced in coops/runs for chicks and ducks inside of the perimeter fence. The plan was to have our dogs be the predator barrier between the perimeter and the runs. None of the dogs are diggers and the Labs are proven with all kinds of small animals. But now we *know* the bulldog/rottie mix is a whole new bag of issues and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a permanent trait. Chickens are officially on the back burner until we get this worked out with a new plan.

So sorry for your loss, that had to be so heart breaking. One of our mini dachshunds killed one of our ducklings last year, and he has been around ducks his whole life. I think the prey drive just took over and he couldn't help himself. hard lesson for me to learn.

 

[Going Quackers]

It was terrible!

I was outside with the ducks for their evening romp and a freak storm started out of nowhere. I scooped them and ran in, dropped them off in their brooder and ran to let the dogs in before they were soaked and stinky. I had been introducing them in small increments. The 2 Labs are older and pretty obedient. One of them is actually scared of the duckies. We also have a small English bulldog/Rottweiler mix. She is 3 and not that smart. I was collecting the ducks to move to their other brooder in the closed off room, and the bulldog grabbed one as I was picking them up. Unlike the Labs, who by nature soft mouth prey, the bulldog has those dang vise grip jaws. When we tell her to leave or drop something, she bites harder, so instead of that I had to grab her mouth and pull her jaws open to release the duckling. As I had the offending dog pinned down with my knee the duckling ran around the side of the brooder. I scooped it up and it seemed ok at first glance. As I was putting the offender in her crate I could see the duckling start to writhe. His little head started to flop funny as I cradled him in a stable position so I started to massage his little body. Within a few seconds he was gone. The tiniest puncture wound in the abdomen area with one tiny drop of blood. I think some internal organs were crushed or there was a spinal injury.

In contrast, the Labs waited patiently as I held the duckling and watched intently. My black Lab then went to lay down in front of the bedroom door to guard the other two ducks. My chocolate Lab came over to nudge the duckling a few times. Since then, when they come in to eat, she checks the brooder, sees two ducks then takes to searching for the other, pacing around double and triple checking.

From the first few raindrops to the death was hardly 3 minutes but it seemed like an hour long cascade of hysteria. From the bite to death was under half a minute. Just proves that everything changes, literally in this case, in the blink of an eye. Ugh. The first failure of being a new duck mom and it had to be such an ultimate result, and so soon into this journey. And I get a frequent reminder of my failure because now, the remaining twin freaks out if it is separated from the other duck for even a split second. Maybe those two really were double yolk ducky twins and I let this rarity perish?!!! Oh, the tragedy!

Anyway, now I am rethinking our future flock and livestock plans. As finances allowed, we were going to fence the property and have fenced in coops/runs for chicks and ducks inside of the perimeter fence. The plan was to have our dogs be the predator barrier between the perimeter and the runs. None of the dogs are diggers and the Labs are proven with all kinds of small animals. But now we *know* the bulldog/rottie mix is a whole new bag of issues and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a permanent trait. Chickens are officially on the back burner until we get this worked out with a new plan.

ugh, i am so sorry! you did your best it's hard with dogs, mine are fine with the birds BUT i have one that i have to watch with the rabbits darn near killed my oldest buck one day. Good safe places are important, and frankly despite the loss you did gain some valuable info on how that dog is with the birds.

Honestly, you'll likely want more than 2 ducks anyways, most people rarely get by with only two. Plus if one is a drake and 1 is a duck, you'll need more girls. Whew the adventures, eh? this is a fun path but sadly isn't always sunshine and roses.