Why fireworks hit ducks hard
Ducks see poorly in the dark, and their answer to a threat they cannot evaluate is to flush — straight up and out, wings first. In daylight that instinct saves them; at night, inside a run, it drives them into mesh, house walls, and each other, and the injuries fireworks cause in ducks are usually collision injuries: damaged wings, hurt necks, birds found wedged where they landed. A flock that panics together also piles together, and a small duck at the bottom of a scrum in a corner is in genuine danger. Every part of the plan below exists to stop the first flush from happening.
In before the first bang
Bring the flock in earlier than the displays start — well before dusk if neighbors are enthusiastic — and shut them into the house for the night rather than leaving the run as an option. Inside, spread bedding deeper than usual so birds can hunker down into it, and put both feed and water inside with them, since a duck that can eat and dabble has something to do besides listen. Keep the interior dim and the routine boring: the same order of closing-up chores you do every night, done slightly early, with no new equipment and no fussing.
Seal the run like you mean it
Before dark, walk the run as an escaping duck would meet it. Check mesh for the gaps a panicked bird finds with its body, pop holes dug under the house or fence line, and the roof and netting line where a flushing duck goes first. Do a headcount with a second person if you can — the time to discover a duck is still outside is while you can still herd her in calmly, not at midnight. If your flock free-ranges the garden by day, that ends earlier than usual on fireworks days, with no exception made for the one reliable duck.
Leave the door shut
The kindest check is often no check. Every opening of the house door during displays sends the flock flushing toward the light and the gap, so once they are in, let them be: listen from outside if you want reassurance, and save the first look for a genuine lull or the end of the evening. If you must go in — a bird in obvious trouble changes the rule — move slowly, speak before you are seen, and keep the door's opening small and brief. Your calm voice arriving ahead of you is the difference between a stir and a stampede.
The morning after
Let them out into a checked run: collect firework sticks and debris from the grass and pond first, since spent fireworks are sharp and their residue does not belong in dabbling water, and change the pond water if debris landed in it. Then watch the flock properly — every duck walking, both wings folded neatly, eating and bathing as usual. A duck hiding away from the flock, holding a wing drooped, limping, or refusing the morning feed has likely hurt herself in the night and needs a veterinarian that day, not a wait-and-see.
If a bird does slip the run during the displays, speed of word is what gets her home, and KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System alerts nearby members so your neighbors know the duck in their garden is yours and how to reach you.