We lost Luna...she just DISAPPEARED! (UPDATE:know what happened)

[chickensducks&agoose]

I have lost a bunch of ducks over the years, we free range. I never give up hope for at least a week though, and once, our mallard came back after 3 months. if it's a good flier, it could have gotten scared up into the sky, and then gotten confused... sometimes they make it back, and sometimes they don't. Have faith, and tell your daughter that ducky probably flew up and has landed on another pond. I don't tell my kids the bird is dead unless I actually see the corpse.

 

[maralynn28]

Thanks all for the well wishes and advice. Well, there is good news and BAD news. Good news is we know where Luna went, bad news is there is no hope to get her back.

Around 6pm last night I was watching tv and I heard a duck quacking loudly, in alarm, I went to see what the commotion was and my dog ran out as well and made a beeline for the duck pen. There was a family of raccoons there. My brave pup fought them off causing the raccoon to drop the duck she was trying to drag through the fence. The raccoons got scared off and the three remaining ducks are all fine. The one has some wounds around her neck where she was grabbed, but she made it through the night so it is very minor injury. So...now we know. So puzzling, I have always heard that raccoons are mean and leave plenty of "evidence" of their attacks. It's so strange these ones drag them away. I suppose it's because they know my dog WILL come after them if she's allowed out?
My dog has lost some outdoor privileges because she was scrapping with the raccoons so much she was getting very injured herself. Poor thing has so many little scrapes on her. So I guess we really have to do something about these 'coons. I will create a new post in "predators" if anyone has advice how to get rid of them.

 

[easttxchick]

A trap and a .22 is what I would use for racoons. I'm glad your dog is OK too, those racoons can be vicious when cornered or scared!

 

[desertdarlene]

That's so sad! Never let your guard down around raccoons. I've learned that here on BYC, especially.

 

[katharinad]

Raccoons are very trap smart. I could not get any into my traps and we had to kill a bulk load of them. They are extremely smart. We basically had to get them up the trees to kill them. That was at night on top of it. One was holding a high beam light, while the other shot them down. There was just no way around it, because they will come back over and over. All I can say get hardware cloth for the lower part of your fence so they cannot grab a duck and rip its head off. Then add electric tape to the lower part of the fence and one line on top of the fence. That will keep them out.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I think electric is the best deterrent. We once had a raccoon in our duck house which fortunately only got away with stealing two eggs. Then we set up our pen with a two foot high wooden slat fence, and above that alternated three hot wires and two ground wires, six inches apart. For the past year and a half we have had no problems with raccoons. Once in a great while we hear a yelp in the night when either a fox or raccoon is learning how unpleasant our backyard is for them. This set up allows a large enough sized pen to stay grassy with eight ducks. They forage outside the pen most days and I believe the raccoons and fox are too afraid of the invisible beast that gives them those horrific bites to come in our yard anymore. I do lock my ducks in their predator proof houses overnight just in case, but with this set up I can allow them to stay out for a few hours after dark while the nights last so long this time of year.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I have caught several raccoons in traps just by putting a piece of meat in the back of the trap..it goes in and SHAZAMM!!! door closes.

 

[sandcat]

That so sad im sorry for your loss

 

[Mom 2em All]

Im so sorry for the loss of your duck, and your problem now of having to rid yourself of these predators.
I wanted to tell you though, please be certain that your dog is up to date on his rabies vaccine. Raccoons are major carriers.
Good luck and I hope you can get rid of the coons quickly without any other losses.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

so sad... honey, you need to get a bigger dog!