Something killed the baby ducklings last night!?!?

Question

A duck from a nearby lake chose the bushes in front of my house to build her nest, for weeks she sat there,and we anxiously awaited her duckilings as well, and finally yesterday they hatched, beautiful little fluffy chicks, and this morning when I went to check, the mother is not there, and all of the ducklings are dead, it is very gruesome, most of them out of the nest on the sidewalk, torn, you can see their insides and all. I wondering what or how this happened? I thought maybe a cat, but wouldn't the mother protect them? I'm so upset about this, and my children haven't even found out yet.

Answer 1

Could be coyotes, cats, hungry dogs. Never know. Hopefully the mother is okay.

You will need to tell the children something. Be honest but you don't need to go into details.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I would probably guess without a doubt it was a raccoon.

I made the mistake of putting some young chickens/ducks out in my backyard in a smaller cage for the night thinking that would protect them.

What I found the next morning was like a scene from a horror flick.  It HAD to be a raccoon because they're the only animals that can physically reach in and grab (semi-opposable thumbs) because they had literally pulled the chicks/ducklings out piece by piece ripping them to shreds.

The next morning all I found of them were random beaks and legs scattered across the lawn.

Answer 3

maybe a snake?

Answer 4

It could have been anything from a cat to a raccoon. If it was bigger than the mother duck, she would have been scared off by the predator.

The fact that the little bodies are still there makes it sound like something killed them just for the sake of killing -- which is what some cats do to birds.

Answer 5

Probably a fox. Poor ducklings :( How old are your children? Tell them they went to join Donald {Duck}

Answer 6

It likely could be a cat, or a raccoon, dog, fox....etc.  Ducks cannot do much to protect their babies...sure they can try and chase the prey away..but they really cannot do much damage to a cat or other predator in the end, and the predator knows this..so they will just proceed to kill the chicks.