Do feral cats kill ducks?

[Blackberry18]

I recently had my entire flock of four Khaki Campbell ducks taken and killed by a predator. There were absolutely no remains, not even a feather, and it was like they just disappeared. Two of my ducks were taken on the same day. My poor final duck I kept locked up in a fenced area, where it seemed nothing could get at her, but something found a way through the top. Here there was a bunch of feathers.

I set a live trap for the predator, which I thought to be a raccoon, with some bacon and a cracked egg (the predator seemed to be going after those as well). I finally caught something this morning, but it wasn't a raccoon; it was a feral cat. I was surprised, I know we have a ton of feral cats, but they haven't bothered anything before. With forests filled with coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossum, and even bears at times, I didn't expect a darn cat. Could this be the culprit for taking all of my ducks?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Unlikely. Unless he's a bobcat or starving, he's not going to attack ducks. And cats are lazy. They'll kill everything, but they'll only carry off one carcass.

 

[hayley3]

Normally if there are no remains it is a fox...in my experience. I won't have ducks again until I move...because of the foxes.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A feral house cat will kill anything and everything that a feral house cat is capable of killing as long as the cat is hungry.

 

[Sandicakes]

I know this is an older post but I to have been experiencing my ducks disappearing. We started out with 4 Khakis. 3 out of the 4 just disappeared in the course of 4 hours during the day. We have them in a fenced in pond, with a duck house, a wooden box and two large trees, and one huge bush that they usually hid in when frightened. This happened about a month ago. There was one duck left behind and she was just fine, they made no noise at all and I was in the house the entire time!!!!! We brought home another duck close to the same age as our remaining duck. We found her online for FREE. They took to each other really well and played all day long. Our duck teaching her all the fun stuff to do around the pond.
This morning our one duck was still in our fenced in pond area but the new one was gone...the same as before. How is it possible that 1 duck escapes a predator TWICE if it was that? We have marsh land around us and a creek that is feed by a lake on our property. I'm so lost as to what is going on.

 

[Noellereagan]

I would place money on a preditory bird if they are able to kill something as big as a duck. Which I believe they can. I've heard they will pick one after the other until they are gone with small flocks. And if they have a nest they'll take them all in one evenings hunt. At least with chickens I know this happens. I actually know someone who put up a camera and caught the suspect- a great horned owl. They were fenced in and didn't have a cover to the coop. Good luck. That really sucks. Is there a place to put meat in a live trap where your animals won't fall victim? Or maybe do like my friend and put up a camera. At least then you know what you're dealing with. As they say, when you know your enemy, it's much easier to win the war. .

 

[jaimedes]

I know most people on here don't think a cat will take your birds, but I had two smaller hens disappear about 2 weeks apart finding only feathers. I realize ducks are larger, so not sure about that. I set up trail cams and KNOW it was a feral cat. She continued to stalk my birds overnight even though they were on lock down. It took 2 weeks to get her trapped.

 

[Senna95]

Yes. Cats will kill ducks. I lost about 6 runners to a feral cat before I finally got the sucker trapped.