Worried about Eagles...

[TabbyG]

I haven't purchased any ducks, we're waiting to finish our chicken coop before we start a new venture... however I'm concerned about Bald Eagles. We have 2 that we see almost daily, as well as random hawks and buzzards. Any special precautions I should take?

My husbands wants to put a few sunken kiddy pools around for them, and I think he wants to put them with the chickens? Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Oregon Blues]

Eagles are capable of taking ducks, but they are, for the most part, not very interested. I have Bald Eagles flying over every day and they don't even turn their heads to look at my ducks.

Of course, if the eagles are really hungry, then you've got a problem. If the eagles decide they want your ducks, the only protection that works is to have your poultry in covered runs.

What are you doing to protect your chickens from predators?

There are very few hawks large enough to take a full sized duck. Again, if you happen to have those few varieties, the way to protect your poultry is covered runs.

Sunken ponds are going to be harder to drain than ponds above ground level. They will need draining and cleaning often, so plan for that.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Buzzards won't bother your poultry, unless you are leaving dead chickens lying about for a few days. Which I am sure you won't.

 

[TabbyG]

No, you're right... I won't be leaving dead chickens around - haha.

Right now our chickens are in the house under a heatlamp, so it isn't an issue yet. We are planning on building a run for them once the actual coop is done.

Thanks for the tip about the pools, sometimes it takes an outside perspective to see what we need to do - I didn't even think about draining them {duh}. We do have acreage, we may just have to put a little pond in somewhere.

 

[larkflying]

We have the kiddie pools for our ducks / geese . . . that is all they have in the spring summer. Fall and winter we have a seasonal pond close to their areas that they love to play in. Eventually we are going to put in a pond, but that is on the "sometime, when . . . " list. They love the kiddie pools -- in fact, sometimes after they swim in the large seasonal pond - they rush right back into their fenced area and play in the kiddie pool -- guess you just can't get enough water if you are a goose or a duck. We dump the ponds every day / twice a day if it is hot. As a child, we had a permanent earth pond that my parents dug for the geese / ducks . . . and we cleaned that out (ducks and geese just never have clean water). I still have nasty memories of that one! When we dig our permanent pond, it will be on a slope with a drain built in to send the yucky duck water down the slope . . .

Make sure the run has some kind of cover -- my chickens run and hide under trees/ under the chicken house whenever a hawk comes close. It helps a lot! The ducks run to the geese since they were raised together, and they stay in a tight flock . . . so far no hawk has been interested enough to try. Plus, I have crows and ravens and a large population of wild birds and they do a great job of mobbing the raptors. The ravens steal a few duck eggs, but I figure that I'll put up with that as long as they shoo the crows away. I know they can take chicks too, but I keep the momma hens inside till the chicks are mostly grown anyway.