Two ducks in four days.

[Mountbigo]

First post here, been using the forum for the past year and have gained valuable information from everyone’s posts.

Quick background. Live in Sarasota Florida area. Started ducking July 2024 with Pekin and Khaki Campbell from tractor supply. Ended up being male Pekin and female Campbell. Successfully hatched three off their eggs in January 2025, and ended up with one male and two females from the eggs. Currently have four live incubating eggs for Mama and Papa for a friend. We love our ducks and are like family now and provide great eggs for eating. We have a large enclosure with pond for night time, but they free range during the day without any issues.

Four days ago lost one of the female offsprings to a predator, fully grown, between 8am and 9am, with no trace. This morning, while I was on opposite side of the hard, a predator snatched mama without a sign of struggle except for what looks like a beak peck at the top papa Perkins beak as if he tried to defend her.

Any ideas what bird can grabbed them in this area without a sign of struggle that late in the morning?

 

[ruthhope]

First post here, been using the forum for the past year and have gained valuable information from everyone’s posts.

Quick background. Live in Sarasota Florida area. Started ducking July 2024 with Pekin and Khaki Campbell from tractor supply. Ended up being male Pekin and female Campbell. Successfully hatched three off their eggs in January 2025, and ended up with one male and two females from the eggs. Currently have four live incubating eggs for Mama and Papa for a friend. We love our ducks and are like family now and provide great eggs for eating. We have a large enclosure with pond for night time, but they free range during the day without any issues.

Four days ago lost one of the female offsprings to a predator, fully grown, between 8am and 9am, with no trace. This morning, while I was on opposite side of the hard, a predator snatched mama without a sign of struggle except for what looks like a beak peck at the top papa Perkins beak as if he tried to defend her.

Any ideas what bird can grabbed them in this area without a sign of struggle that late in the morning?

Welcome to BYC.

I am in St Augustine and my ducks free range in my backyard during the day. It is a very tree and shrub shaded garden with open areas that get sun near the house. At night, my ducks are in a 5' x 10' kennel from Tractor Supply. I have made it predator proof and duck safe by making a roof from strong chickenwire supported by metal ribs. It is arched so that rain does not pool on it. There is hardware cloth under the entire structure to stop raccoons and other predators from burrowing in. The side walls and door are covered in hardware cloth to 3 feet height. The walls and roof are covered with tarps (I bought white/clear tarps for the walls to let in light, but I used a much cheaper gray tarp over the roof to protect the enclosure from weather.) It does not need heating in St Augustine in winter. I just give the ducks pine straw to snuggle into. No food and water in the enclosure so as to not attract rats. My kiddie wading pools are outside the pen in the garden.

It is unsafe for ducks to not be confined to a secure enclosure at night. Raccoons climb and so the enclosure has to have a roof that raccoons cannot get inside. Walls must have hardware cloth round them to prevent raccoons getting a hand inside and grabbing a duck: i have not seen it but I heard that raccoons are strong enough to pull a duck through bars on a pen.

My greatest worry during the day, including early morning when my ducks are preoccupied eating and preening is that a hawk might come and take one. A neighbor had a pug that a hawk tried to carry off: it was left with ripped sides from the talons. Early evening there are barred owls out around my neighborhood and horned owls nearby. All these predators can take out ducks that might look similar sized to a pug but are a lot less heavy.

We do have bald eagles around the Intracoastal Waterway, but I doubt that an eagle would come down so close to my house. If your ducks forage in open areas away from your house, it is quite possible that an eagle could take out a duck.

I suspect you had a hawk take yours, although it is conceivable an owl was still hunting in the morning.