Sorry, I didn't update on the missing turkey and chicken yesterday. it was a really bad day.
When I got up yesterday and went to the pond to check on the two Muscovy moms and their two babes, i found three of them missing; the two moms and Licorice, the drake that was stuck to the ice on Monday.
My son and I spent many hours outside yesterday, searching the forest for the missing ducks (and turkey and leghorn chicken).We focused our search near the front pond. I found three Muscovy feathers on the trail near the pond; they look like they belonged to Licorice.
We pushed deeper into the forest and found a turkey feather, we searched around and we found a huge pile of turkey feathers. We gathered up the feathers and went back to the house and compared them to our remaining turkey. sadly, an exact match.
We went back to the spot where we found the turkey feathers and about 50 feet away, we found white downy feathers, some covered in blood, and some black/green pin feathers. Our hearts sunk further, they were our duck Figgy's feathers
We searched further, pushing deeper into the forest, looking up into trees and looking down to see under them. About 100 feet away from the two feather piles, I caught a glimpse of white under a very think group of pine trees.
We pushed through the pines trees and sadly found the three ducks. They were laid out side by side. Poor Mama Muscovy, my first duck ever, and my very favorite duck, had her chest ripped out and one of her feet ripped off. The other two Figgy and the babe, Licorice had minimal damage.
In addition to the ducks, we found a huge pile of assorted other bird feathers. The ones in the pic below are either owl or hawk. (I picked them all up)
After finding the bodies, we were very upset, so came back to the house. After we pulled ourselves together we went back and gathered up the bodies (cause screw that! the predator isn't getting them!). They have been buried.
So, now we gotta figure out who the predator is and then we need to trap it. It may be what killed my two old cats this summer. It needs to go!
If anyone is familiar with predators and has an idea who the culprit is please let me know. I'm thinking fox, but not sure. thanks!
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