Help! Hawk attacked ducks IN the duck house

[JustDucky8]

Hi everyone, something really tragic happened yesterday and I was hoping someone could help me make sense of it. I had 15 Pekin ducklings that were a little over a month old that lived outside in their run. I put them to bed in their house Friday night and when I woke up to let them out first thing the next morning they were all dead . I literally couldn’t stop ugly crying all day. It looks like a hawk got in there and killed them, the wounds looked like it was made by a beak and I can’t see a way that a ground predator could have gotten in. They had one hole in the back and 1-3 in the front, they were all on their backs. I must have missed it by an hour at the most, I feel awful. But what I can’t make sense of is why it killed all of them. My understanding of hawks is that they take one a day generally when they’re in the open, not when they’re locked in the duck house. My dog was barking at something in the tree near their run the past 2 days, and it wasn’t his normal squirrel bark, his hackles were raised and he didn’t like whatever it was. We looked but couldn’t see anything. It’s really weird and my heart is broken. Has anyone else ever heard of a hawk doing this? I live in south Florida. I can also post the pictures if that helps but don’t want to traumatize anyone else, it was a horrible way to start the day.

 

[DobieLover]

I'm so sorry for your losses.
It wasn't a hawk. They don't hunt at night.
Can you post pictures of your setup? Inside and out.
It was likely a small ground predator like a rat or a mink or something along those lines.

 

[21hens-incharge]

So sorry for your loss.

I agree it doesn't sound like a hawk.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Perhaps a raccoon? Not a bird of prey.
I’m very sorry for your loss

 

[JustDucky8]

There were no marks on the duck house except for near the roof and they look like talon marks. All the latches were closed and nothing seemed out of place when I went out there other than my ducks didn’t start quacking when I walked over. I couldn’t find any evidence of anything tunneling under the fence or the house and there wasn’t a mess of feathers I’d expect to see if a mammal did it. I know I should have put hardwire cloth on the the hole near the roof, I was planning to do it soon but they grew faster than we thought and needed to go outside. Since the hole is only 5 inches at the biggest my husband and I thought they would be ok till we were able to reinforce it. I’ll include pictures of our whole setup and one of the wound.

 

[ruthhope]

Sadly, I think it is a rat or rats that got in up there. We have tree rats AKA roof rats in NE Florida and feel sure that you have them further south.

Hawks don't hunt at night. Owls do and are a danger to ducks. I can't conceive of an owl killing all and not taking the ducklings back to its nest hole.

My dogs bark at rats .

 

[Katieskerlong]

It’s hard to pinpoint because there’s so many possibilities. I highly suggest you fill any gaps in their coop with hardware cloth so nothing can get through the gap tho

 

[Tormund]

Hi everyone, something really tragic happened yesterday and I was hoping someone could help me make sense of it. I had 15 Pekin ducklings that were a little over a month old that lived outside in their run. I put them to bed in their house Friday night and when I woke up to let them out first thing the next morning they were all dead . I literally couldn’t stop ugly crying all day. It looks like a hawk got in there and killed them, the wounds looked like it was made by a beak and I can’t see a way that a ground predator could have gotten in. They had one hole in the back and 1-3 in the front, they were all on their backs. I must have missed it by an hour at the most, I feel awful. But what I can’t make sense of is why it killed all of them. My understanding of hawks is that they take one a day generally when they’re in the open, not when they’re locked in the duck house. My dog was barking at something in the tree near their run the past 2 days, and it wasn’t his normal squirrel bark, his hackles were raised and he didn’t like whatever it was. We looked but couldn’t see anything. It’s really weird and my heart is broken. Has anyone else ever heard of a hawk doing this? I live in south Florida. I can also post the pictures if that helps but don’t want to traumatize anyone else, it was a horrible way to start the day.

That really doesn't sound like a Hawk. Hawks usually don't kill for sport. Cats are notorious for wiping out an entire coop foxes will also and so will weasels/minks.