The Case of the Missing Duck

Last week Thursday I got home from work and decided to feed and water the birds, when I noted something amiss...

One of our ducks was missing! It was the drake Blue Swedish, the two hens were still sitting in their normal spot next to the stable. I started walking around the farm looking for the duck or for a bunch of feathers indicating that something had snatched it up for lunch.

I combed the place and couldn't find anything, no duck, no feathers, no nothing. Nikki had seen a yellow lab in our yard the week before, so my working hypothesis was that someone's dog had nabbed it. Nikki and I went up to Chippewa Falls this weekend, so before we left I set up my motion-activated deer scouting camera on the fence near the duck's wading pool hoping to get some photographic evidence.

My sister-in-law Jackie took care of the farm in our absence and had some further information on our return. On Saturday afternoon she saw 4 large dogs down by our woodshed, which is where I killed the chickens the weekend before. My guess is that it was these dogs that grabbed one of my ducks. The scouting camera was full of pictures, so I am going to get those developed tomorrow. It will probably just show our dog, Cash, running around, but maybe I'll get lucky.

Hearing that we have 4 dogs running around together in the neighborhood is a little worrying, I don't know if they are from an area farm or if they are wild dogs in a small pack. I hope to see them myself soon so that I can see if they have collars or if they are obviously feral.