These 17 tips will help keep your ducks and chickens safe from predators in your back yard.

Coyotes, bobcats, stray dogs, cats, hawks, snakes, skunks, raccoons, possums, ferrets… there is a long list of potential predators that would happily make a meal of your backyard ducks or chickens — or their eggs.

A possum we accidentally caught in a trap intended for a groundhog. Possums can hiss and look scary, but they’re typically not duck predators (although they can be if given the opportunity). They will happily eat duck eggs. The most common urban predators of ducks and chickens are raccoons and hawks.

“But I live in the city, so I don’t have predators.” Wrong. If anything, you probably have MORE raccoons and possums in your urban neighborhood than someone living in a rural setting.

So how can you keep your ducks or chickens safe from potential predators while still making sure your poultry have a happy, high quality, outdoor life?

Healthy eggs require healthy ducks

Our girls are egg producers. We know that getting healthy eggs for us, means we have to provide conditions necessary for healthy ducks. That’s not just our opinion, that’s based on research data.

Some of our Welsh Harlequin ducks out enjoying a good evening forage in the gardens.

But a healthy duck can still easily become a victim of a hungry predator. That’s one reason why wild ducks have an average lifespan of 3-5 years, whereas domesticated ducks cared for by humans can live well into their teens.

Jackson, one of our pampered Welsh Harlequin ducks who sleeps inside with us at night. Out of water, ducks instinctively sleep under bushes or other objects that make them less prone to being attacked by an aerial predator like a hawk or eagle. Inside our house, our ducks still adhere to this instinct by sleeping under chairs, tables, etc.

How do you raise healthy ducks or chickens? Continue Reading