I have a Indian Runner duck who hatched three babies about three weeks ago. She was always super-protective of them. In fact she grabbed onto my pant leg once because I got to close. Well, this morning, I went to the barn and she only had two little ones with her. I knew instantly I wasn't going to like this scenario. She usually roosts in with the chickens, I think to get away from the goats and sheep. I found her third baby lying barely alive in the corner of the coop area. Its head and face had multiple cuts and that's as descriptive as I will get. Could the chickens have done that in the night?? I was out around 5:20 am and it's little body was starting to cool down so it must have been like that for a while, however, as I said, it was still alive. After my husband put the little thing out of it's misery, I went to look around the area. I noticed a hole that could be a rat's hole. (course, I've never seen a rat's hole before - new to the farm life) Could a rat have attacked my little duck?? Would it have left it alive? Do they eat them or just kill them?? This is my first casualty and I have felt rotten all day. I have a hard time killing spiders.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. If something is in my barn hurting my ducks, I want it OUT!!! (I did pour rat poison down the hole though) Thanks.
Ethel

Ethel - Yes, its awful when this happens, but it is often hard to know just what has been responsible. You'll have to eliminate the rat by blocking up the hole, and then see if it that solves the problem. It could be the chickens too - they can peck - they do it to one another - but there's no way to know for sure except by a process of elimination. The good thing is that this is the way to build up your knowledge, hard as it can be to see ducklings or chicks die.

As your posting is now a month old, do you have any more to report? Lets hope the two survivors have prospered.