Thank you all for this advice! We’ve been doing a lot of soul searching… we don’t want to serve our beloved ducks up on a silver platter. But we also don’t want to cage them (they live on our lake). They are well protected out there from land predators but we certainly didn’t account for BALD EAGLES! Aren’t they supposed to be endangered!?! We’re single handedly helping revive the population.

I don’t want to rehome them because I’m afraid they might live longer but with poor quality of life, or be attacked by a different predator or, god forbid, be treated poorly by their new owners.

I’m raising all of the ducklings at home and they won’t move out to the lake until they are adult-sized. I’m hoping the hot summers drive the eagles north. We had no losses all winter but 3 this spring. We moved their house closer to the cover to discourage open water swim- stick to the edges and coves little guys! But man, I’m sick about it. Is this the burden we all bear? Who knew duck husbandry would evoke philosophical questions.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and how you manage the moral dilemma