[mentalmilly]

I have 20 ducklings that are growing like mad.  They are in a run netted over at the moment to stop crows and magpies having them for lunch.  Anybody know how big a duckling must be to stop them being killed or eaten by these birds?  I need to move them soon to make way for other broods which need a net.  They are 3 week old muscovy's with their mums at the moment. They will stay with their mums when l move them.  Any help please.

[littlelugs]

I recently had a adult call duck killed by crows so that's the size they can go for... saying that our muscovey mum and drake were free ranging with last years brood as soon as they were feathered and I had no issues with bird attacks as both mum and dad were very protective of the youngsters.
 

[HesterF]

I was just wondering the same thing. I have three week old Cayugas, Aylesbury and Appleyards in the kitchen at the moment and they're enormous. I've just weighed a couple of them and the heaviest is over 800g (given that they couldn't have been much more than 70g when they hatched less than three weeks ago, that's quite some going). They're not feathered yet so I can't move them out unless it gets a bit warmer but it's starting to look a little ridiculous. I was wondering whether they're now safe from crows and rats. In my case they'd still be cat fodder so I do have to keep them reasonably secure but I do have places that could be cat proofed but probably not rat proofed.

H

[Beewyched]

Not had any experience of ducklings with their mums, but we've never lost chicks free-ranging with their mums - make sure they have plenty of cover - bushes etc for them to hid in if needed. 
When we were up in Scotland we had a problem with hen harriers - they decimated the blue tip population on the holding,  but the broodies seemed to keep all their chicks safe 
Now cats ... they're another story