Do badgers eat ducks?

[scurtin]

Hi

A friend of ours had five of her ducks taken last night. They are in a duck house in a pen surrounded by chicken wire. The door was pushed in. One was left, a mother sitting on her eggs, the others were taken without trace except for a few feathers. Her husband is convinced it was a badger.

Do badgers eat ducks and if so how can they protect their remaining two and the chicks when they hatch? Any ideas most welcome.

Susanna

[Hedera]

Most likely a fox!

[eeyore]

badgers, like us, are omnivourous and will eat most things given half a chance - but like hedra said a more likely culprit would be a fox , or a cat for that matter (or possibly a human - as its not likely that an animal predator would have left the one sitting on eggs which would have been the easiest to take)

with regard to protecting the others regardless of the culprit i'd suggest rebuilding the door so it can only open outwards and putting a lock/catch top and bottom, and possibly a large alarm on break contacts

also if you are dealing with badgers/foxes an electric fence strung so its about 4" off the ground with a punch packer unit running off a car battery

[Tobyh]

Hi there,

Can you just clarify - these were adult ducks that were taken? If so that sounds incredibly unusual especially that they all went at once.

Badgers will eat small mammals on occasion such as rabbits, rats, mice and hedgehogs but their diet is mainly worms and insect larvae with bulbs fruit and vegetables at times.

My money would be on a fox still especially as there's little left around the area.

Is this an area badgers and foxes frequent? Could a person have stolen them?

TobyH

[scurtin]

Yes all adult ducks. two other ducks were taken last week too. The neighbours and her husband have seen badgers in their gardens. We live in Dorset and their are lots of badgers. I was just surprised because I have them in my garden and I don't associate them with eating ducks.

It seems an electric fence will be the best bet.

Susanna

[nightshade]

Badgers certainly eat, Rabbits and Hedgehogs so domestic fowl may also be on the list

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by eeyore

- as its not likely that an animal predator would have left the one sitting on eggs which would have been the easiest to take)

That would indeed seem a logical conclusion to make ... however, in the face of a predator, often the safest tactic is to stay put, sit absolutely still and so don't attract the same amount of attention that the others flapping about and squawking would have done ... in doing so, those birds would have only reinforced the 'catch them' instinct of the predator, whilst the surviving one (perhaps frozen in fear) would have easily gone unnoticed in the the ensuing melee.

I would agree with the other contributors on the thread that, although more than capable, it is not typical badger behaviour ... however, mustelids are fast to learn and to exploit any easy food source.

Whilst electric fencing would undoubtably be a good deterrent to further raids, it's maybe a more costly option to just replacing the chicken-wire enclosure with one constructed with a heavy-gauge welded wire mesh ... you'd need a much heavier gauge wire to keep out badgers than foxes, for instance, but most folk don't seem to realise that chicken wire is designed only to keep chickens in ... it's not very effective in keeping anything out.

[nightshade]

Chainlink fencing is effective but it needs to be buried for a depth of around a metre. As Valleyforge says chicken wire is just to keep chickens in.

[STYRBJORN]

Almost certainly a human being. A fox is next most probable, but a fox would kill all the birds and leave the bodies, just taking one. How would a fox or badger carry 5 ducks at once? Think on't!

[BarbH]

Yes, sounds like humans to me, too: they've probably left the one on the nest so they can come back at a later stage for the next batch.