catching a duck

I am animal sitting for a friend who has dogs, cats, horses, ducks and geese. Luckily, everyone but the dogs are fairly self sufficient. I just have to make sure no one gets out, everyone has water and the electric fence is still on.

But, today when I went out to feed the dogs, I found one of the ducks on the wrong side of the fence. It was the female and she was frantically trying to figure out how to get back inside the pen with her mate. The male duck meanwhile was quacking up a storm and running around frantically.

I had absolutely no idea how to catch a duck. I tried walking up to it, but the duck ran around and around the pen. It was one FAST duck.

Luckily, after giving the matter some thought, I realized the duck fence was fairly close to another fence on one side. So, I got two dog crates and a chair and made a barrier on one end and then herded the duck in. I had hoped it would run into the dog crates, but no luck.

It doubled back, but I was ready and grabbed it. I had no idea ducks were so soft. At least this one was. I actually wanted to snuggle it some, but it was really not very happy to be picked up.

I put it back with the male and they were so happy. They both jumped in their little pool and kept touching beaks.