The mystery of the missing duck... SOLVED!

Frankie the Duck- she thought she was a chicken

A few weeks back we lost my favorite duck. Well, we didn't lose her. She vanished!

Now this isn't uncommon when you have outdoor critters. There are various reasons for missing animals such as, predators or they wandered off to pass away if they were sick or maybe someone swiped them. It's sad but these happen.

Mr. Awesome and Peanut looked all over the yard and even investigated a pile of white something that turned out to be a plastic bag up close.

A few days later, Mr. Awesome and me had a trip to pick up a table and chairs from a nearby town late in the evening. We arrived home to find the flock put away. This was unusual. Why? Peanut puts them away and it's usually a lot later though we have reminded her to please put them away sooner especially after Frankie went missing.

She stuck her head out the door to help light my way down the path. I'm still healing from the "Great knee incident". I applauded her for getting them in without me having to bark at her. She said, "Come in I've got a story to tell you!"

I hobbled in faster.

She said the dog started barking madly so she let the dog out only to watch a Fox happily trotting down the yard with a duck in it's mouth!

The dog went tearing after the fox, which decided to let go of the duck and run away.

After getting the petrified duck back in the Abbey, she closed up the rest of the crew and went back in the house with the dog. Not even 5 minutes later the dog started barking again! Apparently, this fox was super hungry. She let the dog out a second time. This time the dog chased the fox about a few acres down the road.The next day she appeared to be just fine.

Now we know what happened to Frankie. 😢

Raccoon at base of tree.
I didn't want to show gore so I pulled back a bit

Next 3 days ago, Mr. Awesome noticed movement on top of the barn. He believed it was a Raccoon. These guys mean business when it comes to snagging out animals as well. We were monitoring the situation when I saw something big and fuzzy hanging out of the tree in our front yard.

Guess what, it was the raccoon! If you are squeamish please stop here. We are mini-homesteaders and our farm animals are not pets. They provide food for us so we do not take kindly to predators.

Mr. Awesome put the raccoon down. There was no nest and we believe it is the same one we saw prior to this a week ago in a yard about a mile down. There is an abandoned silo there and I was pretty sure that was it's home. Now just to clarify, we do live trap animals if needed. Also, there are protected animals, check your local area for information.

Enter in a new flock soon or hens or chicks we want to be sure everyone is safe and sound as best possible. This means we protect our flock by whatever means necessary. We are out in the country so we do have coyotes, hawks, raccoons, foxes, cats and even other dogs to keep away from our critters.

Prior to having farm animals, I thought it was cruel to take a life of a majestic and cute animal. That stopped the day our flock of 20 was decimated by a family of foxes 7 years ago. Don't get me wrong I still believe they are beautiful but from afar.

As for the fox? We are unsure what happened to it. Now either the dog was enough to scare it off or after the situation Peanut witnessed I was in the yard the next day when I heard a few gun shots. Again, we are out in the country so that isn't unusual but it was only a few and silence. We have a neighbor about 5 miles down the road that also has chickens between our house and their home the fox may have been having a buffet.

I'm crossing my fingers that this will be all for now...

God bless! I hope your day is awesome!

Coming up tomorrow, "Homeschool game day" and I finally started my seeds for the garden! Did you know I have 2 books out soon? I am setting up book signings in the area and I'm excited but this is another post.😊

BIG HUGS!
Mel