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Supercow said:
Hey everybody... some bad news this time :(

In my professional life I say to every newcomer that they should make a mistake as soon as possible - big enough to matter, not big enough to make them give up. Just something to put you in your place and proceed with a good balance of optimism and caution.

Well, yesterday 6 ducks went into their house in the evening and this morning, 5 came out.

No feathers, no blood, no duck.

The wire fastening the door at night was unrolled and one of the 2 large pieces of wood leaning on the door overnight found on the ground, the other one still standing. I have a hard time imagining how anything can get in and pull out a fat duck with the situation remaining as described. But as I've been reading predators are disciples of Houdini and anyway, I have no other option than to believe it happened.

The 5 survivors don't seem to be extra skittish or harmed in any way (wounds, obviously missing feathers...).

Two nights ago our dogs went berserk in the evening, barking like mad and trying to jump over the fence - guess that must have been the scouting run. But yesterday, sadly, no. The thing is that while they are in general very good watchdogs, we don't yet dare to leave them running around with the ducks as then the number of ducks might decrease even more. Also they really want to be with their humans at night.

We took some steps to fortify the door - a bolt, some more fastening points... I also checked the floor (it's raised), the walls, the ceiling, it all looks in good shape. Reading up on electrical fencing.
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Dumpster Panda! - Raccoon!
They are perfectly able to reach through a hole, too small for them to fit and silently kill an unsuspecting duck, then dragging the bird through that hole and disappear.
Electric fencing is more good in keeping animals inside than keep predators out of somewhere… - Unless you are able (and responsible enough!) to hook up your electric fence to a neon-transformer overnight. Results will be - soil improving…
As a quick fix, a solid piece of wood, placed over the door and either bolted in place or being wedged against the coop will do. OSB-board is coon-resistant too.
In the long run, buy traps - the safe ones that won't accidentally kill a duck or your dog, an air-rifle and a shovel.
 
Supercow said:
From the state of the duck house and the fact that no other duck was harmed in any way - it would seem sensible to conclude 2 legs.

But I really have a hard time imagining that. We are in a a village, we're in good relations with neighbors (one of them has about 100 chickens), and if you really want to go out of your way to steal something from us during the night there are far more valuable items (power tools, bikes...) lying around than a duck.

Nevertheless I'm thinking about a camera (maybe just a fake one would already have an effect).
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I disagree! - First, a two legged predator would have just opened the door, grabbed a duck and fled the scene. Second the skill of moving silent has long been lost to two legged predators; your ducks as well as your dogs would have woken you up.
 
Supercow said:
Yea or hang some money with invisible paint on a nearby tree...

On the bright side, I just consulted with the ducks about their opinion on potato beetles, I gave them a sample and they determined it's something they would very much like to continue eating.
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I do let my ducks into the garden area from time to time to roam the potato patch, but i have to supervise them. Apparently potato plants smell and taste very similar to tomato plants and if the potatoes run out of beetles and slugs… 🙊
 
I absolutely want to believe it's a 4-legged problem... Not very welcome but better than a 2-legged one. I just don't understand how an animal would have decided to leave 5 fat ducks sitting there untouched.

There is now a metal bit that slides in after the door has been closed and prevents it from reopening - not exactly a bolt because didn't have any lying around, so I just drilled a vertical hole in the wood block that serves as the threshold and dropped the pin in. And added 3 more points where the door is tied to the house frame with wire after closing.

We don't have raccoons - we do have foxes, weasels, polecats (I hope that's the correct term) and potentially jackals, presumably they have been slowly getting comfortable in Slovenia and have reached our part of it - https://www.rtvslo.si/news-in-engli...-mysterious-animal-of-slovenia-s-woods/418651
 
Supercow said:
I absolutely want to believe it's a 4-legged problem... Not very welcome but better than a 2-legged one. I just don't understand how an animal would have decided to leave 5 fat ducks sitting there untouched.

There is now a metal bit that slides in after the door has been closed and prevents it from reopening - not exactly a bolt because didn't have any lying around, so I just drilled a vertical hole in the wood block that serves as the threshold and dropped the pin in. And added 3 more points where the door is tied to the house frame with wire after closing.

We don't have raccoons - we do have foxes, weasels, polecats (I hope that's the correct term) and potentially jackals, presumably they have been slowly getting comfortable in Slovenia and have reached our part of it - https://www.rtvslo.si/news-in-engli...-mysterious-animal-of-slovenia-s-woods/418651
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Are you sure that you don't have raccoons in your area of Slovenia? - I asked the graken »are there raccoons in slovenia?« and one of the answers was:
1685215434305.png

Raccoons have been introduced to northern Europe around the 1930's and are by now common all over the place. I personally have seen feral Raccoons in Germany, the BeNeLux, France, Austria and Hungaria. And have heart about sightings in Romania.
Just go to https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/2/273 and scroll down to the map:
1685215830212.png

I' sorry to say that, but this kind of sneak attack has raccoon written all over the place!
A fox would have left evidence in form of feathers and blood in the bedding and any type of weasel… - i don't want to describe what a weasel would have done... 😢
 
Supercow said:
Well we are located 6 km from Austria and 30 km from Hungary, so ... I guess it's not entirely impossible. I just hope it's not a human. The most problematic animal :(
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I am 95% sure its not the most problematic animal. Set up a camera, investigate the possible paths a humon intruder might have taken for footprints.
 

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