If you have found all the youngsters Im surprised that you havnt found Mum and Dad as they are so heavy. Foxy usually only takes the lighter birds to ease the getaway!Nope, no sign. If they were in the front paddock Allez would have found them. Jemima wasn't a big duck but Jack was a large Swedish Blue drake! Very handsome and I am so sorry to lose him.
I installed a solar powered, light activated, automatic pop door on my coop. The chicks go in before dark and the door closes about 30 minutes after dark. It then opens at dawn before the chicks and I am up.That would cost a fair bit of money over here in the UK (I see you are in the US), and I dare say if many of us could afford it we'd do just the same. My ducks would have been safely enclosed in a dog cage and shed unit had I remembered to shut them in it. ::)
I also have my mobile coop, which I move about the pasture for free ranging, surrounded by solar powered electric netting fence to keep out predators, so they have double protection.
Dodanjo, it is devastating and we really feel for you. If you would like some eggs to incubate, you are very welcome to them :)Thank you, I've had a number of similar offers. I'm going to build a new run first before I decide what I'm going to do - the old one will be rested and resown. Off to buy grass seed today.
I installed a solar powered, light activated, automatic pop door on my coop. The chicks go in before dark and the door closes about 30 minutes after dark. It then opens at dawn before the chicks and I am up.That would cost a fair bit of money over here in the UK (I see you are in the US), and I dare say if many of us could afford it we'd do just the same. My ducks would have been safely enclosed in a dog cage and shed unit had I remembered to shut them in it. ::)
I also have my mobile coop, which I move about the pasture for free ranging, surrounded by solar powered electric netting fence to keep out predators, so they have double protection.
I was thinking that about the solar powered stuff - not much good here in Scotland either, and my shed isn't close enough to the house for electricity to be installed without a fair cost. So it's back to the old DIY system - keep an eye at all times possible.Annie, the autocloser is battery powered, the battery just fits in the unit. I ran mine like this very successfully in Exmoor, each battery lasted a good year, I think. But I take jaykay's point about ducks not taking themselves to bed, so it's no help at all for ducks, only useful for hens.