I am very new to owning these type of critters, last fall I got 4 Indian running ducks and have built them a very secure and safe enclosure and night sleeping house. I live on vancouver island in BC Canada. I have been letting the ducks run loose within my fenced in acre during the day and 2 days ago one of my girls was missing when I got home. I found her the next morning dead in the front yard, in the open, something ate all the meat off of her neck and the meat off the front of her body, but her head and legs where still attached and she was just laying on her back with just a few small feathers around her. It happened during the day, we have racoons, mink, but not fox around . I feel bad because I have gone to alot of work to keep them safe, but I guess not enough. Now I am keeping them locked in their pen until I solve this problem. If anyone has any ideas of who this may be and how I can make them safer, it would be appreciated.
What killed my duck?
Do you have hawks? We lost two chickens and that is the part that was eaten on them. Ours are secure in a large pen except for the top. No other sign of varmints getting in, so it had to be a raptor. We use scarecrows to make the raptors think there is someone out in the yard all the time.
Hope this is helpful to you.
Yes we do have hawks, that makes sense. Thank you for that idea. I havent let them out of their pen until today when I was outside watching them every minute. I dont know if I am up to having farm critters with all the predators around, it is upsetting when something happens to them.