Will owls kill ducks?

[Miss Lydia]

Covered well protected run ASAP. or dusk to dawn lights but then they would be able to see better what they are after. I go with well covered run.

 

[desertdarlene]

How are your ducks today? Someone was right about Craigslist. And, if you have a truck or something, you might get an entire coop (or the beginning of one) for free.

 

[Riverside220]

I had two beautiful mallard ducks. They were 3 months old and we had raised them from babies. We just built a nice pen for them, have a lovely house and little pool for them. This was their second night out. The first night we put them in their little house, but tonight I went out and they were sitting in their pool so I decided to leave them. When I went out about an hour later only one was there. I was so upset. My husband and I looked everywhere, just in case he had flown out of the pen, but found nothing. We felt so bad!! We thought that our pen was very safe, although it didn't have a cover over the top, it was well built, high, and had reinforcement at the bottom. We took the remaining duck back in our house for the night and put (Tweetie) in the little cage. I believe it might have been an owl. We heard something as we went out up in the cedar tree next to the pen fluttering it's wings. We also have six chickens and two goats in an adjacent pen to the ducks and have never had a problem with losing any of them. However, the goats are probably good watch animals and I have a very protective rooster for my hens. Now we blame ourselves for not covering the duck run with a wire cover. Live and learn the hard way, I guess. It cost us our precious little Daddles. Any thoughts about other predators that it might have been. We find it hard to figure out what else it might have been that could carry off a mature mallard, without a trace, over a six foot chicken wire fence. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!