Which Predator have you lost duck(s) to? and what State/Province are you located?

[shortgrass]

Yeah, its been a rough couple springs
That weasel did me in; I quit on ducks after that. DH still keeps mallards, but everything finds ducks delicious around here, it seems. We live by two water sources, so lots of critters come out at night from the creek. Ive had in excess of 40 chickens, and lost 2 to a fox, but nothing else even bothers them.

But those ducks.... Highly desired by local predators and evidently that weasel found a gap in our duck hut security. It's been reinforced with actual concrete and sits empty, waiting for spring so we can try, try again.

 

[dotknott]

@shortgrass be sure to post a location! I know you can click on the username to get location, but you might move or remove that from the profile and we'd lose the insight!

That is a pretty rough run of it! How's your mom like the guineas? I'm considering some, but not sold!

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

But those ducks.... Highly desired by local predators and evidently that weasel found a gap in our duck hut security. It's been reinforced with actual concrete and sits empty, waiting for spring so we can try, try again.

Good luck...

 

[shortgrass]

@shortgrass be sure to post a location! I know you can click on the username to get location, but you might move or remove that from the profile and we'd lose the insight!

That is a pretty rough run of it! How's your mom like the guineas? I'm considering some, but not sold!

Oh, yeah! Logan County, CO.

And, she adores them! Lol they stalk her and peek in her windows and sneak into the garage, and sometimes the get up on vehicles, so be warned lol, they're ornery And loud. Guinea can be very very loud. That's actually how she ended up with them. They were mine but they were just being too obnoxiously loud whenever the wind blew. They're not near as bad at her place; less activity over there, I think.

But great alarm systems. They alert her to people driving into the yard or coyotes or coons, critters lurking etc. The ones she lost were brooding hens, so she's going to start locking them up when they brood; they're too vulnerable on the nest at night in the pasture.

Good luck...

Thanks! We've got fort duck back there, so maybe next spring will be the one to remember

 

[Maeschak]

Central-ish Maryland:

Fox, raccoons, weasel/mink (think weasel never caught it), possum, BIG RATS, snakes, feral Tom cats, hawks, eagles, owls, and I have seen a coyote but dont think there are too many around.

 

[Diva Chick Mom]

I live on Newport , WA in a rural area. I thought I had a Really secure duck enclosure for my ducks... two female and one male peking. I had one small area of open sky space about 5x5 feet that I had not sealed up and that is where my predator came in from. It was an owl that came in from above right about dusk.

It was awful. By the time I discovered my battered duck, the owl was gone. It literally took out one eye and chewed open the skull and by the time I realized what had happened it must have been an hour or two later. My poor drake was a bloodied mess and we had to put him down, he was suffering. I cried all night and I am having flashbacks of the whole thing. My two females have been eating very little since then and I've been going out there and sitting with them and talking to them.

The very next day I bought a big roll of chicken wire and I sealed up the space that was not sealed. We had never had owl problems before so it was totally unexpected.

I learned a very hard lesson...predator security means even from the sky.

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

I learned an owl lesson too...it's hard coz you never see owls and it's easy to forget they're there

 

[dotknott]

I only knew there were owls because I could hear them. I heard them for 2 years before I ever saw one.

I think if you've got hawks you can be pretty sure you have owls too.