Something got my duck's eggs and potentially hurt duck?

[quackkquack_]

Hello again!
I feel like I'm always on here with something new every week lol
So I was out all yesterday (from 5:30am until 10:00pm) so I didn't really get to hangout with my ducks at all (Buzzard and Newt.. again..) but I did make sure they had food and water before I left.
I checked up on them this morning and something had eaten Newt's eggs! I noticed there were crushed, smooshed eggs outside of the enclosure near their food bowl as I was feeding them and I got worried so I quickly checked where Newt made her nest and there was only one egg left with a big pile of poop there (she had four eggs since she hasn't been laying for almost a week-- I'll express my concerns about that in a moment, and I'm not sure if its duck poop or not since its pretty big)
Both ducks are fine besides Buzzard being extremely stressed out, he keeps pacing and flying at the wiring of the enclosure. There are no signs of a break in, in the enclosure and the bottom of it is coated with wiring and then we put a bunch of bedding (hay) on top of it.
Here are some pictures:

Yes I do know there is a hole under where the broken eggs are but they looked to be pushed out of the wiring as there are broken pieces of egg shell on it.
We thought it was a snake at first but then realized they swallow eggs whole. Then we thought maybe it was a rat but I've never seen rats around here, only mice but it is possible..?

Now about Newt not laying eggs..
It's been almost a week (maybe even a week) and I read about people's ducks not laying eggs for a bit and then continuing to lay them after a few days or a week so I thought maybe thats what was going on with Newt since its her first time laying eggs.
Well I noticed she was acting kinda weird today and I decided to check both ducks for injuries and I checked her vent (which is fine) but above her vent to my right there is a kinda small-medium sized bump and I pushed her fluff away and of course saw veins but I checked the other side (which was kinda hard since she started freaking out after I found the bump and the other side seems fine as far as I know so..
I was thinking that's why she hasn't laid any more eggs because it might be too painful with that lump/bump right next to her vent?
I couldn't get a picture but I can try later when I have more help.

EDIT: The hole under the enclosure in those pictures was something trying to get inside of the enclosure, there are more holes and digging around the enclosure but it was like two weeks ago and it has stopped ever since.

 

[Miss Lydia]

is your run enclosed in chicken wire? That will not keep out weasels, mink,rats, mice and other small critters plus raccoons will reach in a try and pull anything they can get hold of through the fence. And believe me if you live in the US you have all these predators and more. We just don't see them. Now that something got the eggs they may come back for a duck. You really need hardware cloth over that chicken wire.

 

[quackkquack_]

is your run enclosed in chicken wire? That will not keep out weasels, mink,rats, mice and other small critters plus raccoons will reach in a try and pull anything they can get hold of through the fence. And believe me if you live in the US you have all these predators and more. We just don't see them. Now that something got the eggs they may come back for a duck. You really need hardware cloth over that chicken wire.

Yes its chicken wire, honestly didn't want to use it and I'm saving up to upgrade their enclosure.
The eggs were in a small house with a ramp and a roof on it and it's not very close to the wiring so you'd have to get in the enclosure to get them so we were thinking it was a rat or some type of smaller rodent.

EDIT: But I'm pretty sure I do have enough to get hardware cloth so I will definitely look into that.
Do you possibly know what the bump could be on Newt? I can take pictures tomorrow morning if needed.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Rats mink and weasels can all get through 1" holes.

Please post a picture of what your seeing with this bump on Newt.

 

[quackkquack_]

Rats mink and weasels can all get through 1" holes.

Please post a picture of what your seeing with this bump on Newt.

I went to go check Newt and take the picture and she was squirming a lot since she doesn't like to be held but I couldn't really find the bump anymore and she laid another egg so I was thinking maybe the bump was the egg..?

 

[Miss Lydia]

That may have been what you felt especially if gone. That's much better than something else that could have been harmful.

 

[Ronnie_]

Yes its chicken wire, honestly didn't want to use it and I'm saving up to upgrade their enclosure.
The eggs were in a small house with a ramp and a roof on it and it's not very close to the wiring so you'd have to get in the enclosure to get them so we were thinking it was a rat or some type of smaller rodent.

EDIT: But I'm pretty sure I do have enough to get hardware cloth so I will definitely look into that.
Do you possibly know what the bump could be on Newt? I can take pictures tomorrow morning if needed.

We used 1/4” (you can do 1/2”) opening hardware cloth on the bottom half of our run( first 3’ up) and we trenched it at least 6” under the ground/buried it. I have been adding pavers to the outside perimeter occasionally as well all to discourage digging.

Yes its chicken wire, honestly didn't want to use it and I'm saving up to upgrade their enclosure.
The eggs were in a small house with a ramp and a roof on it and it's not very close to the wiring so you'd have to get in the enclosure to get them so we were thinking it was a rat or some type of smaller rodent.

EDIT: But I'm pretty sure I do have enough to get hardware cloth so I will definitely look into that.
Do you possibly know what the bump could be on Newt? I can take pictures tomorrow morning if needed.

Definitely do hardware cloth and tench/bury it at least 6” below the soil line around your enclosure to discourage digging. I also have been adding pavers/rocks/other items to outside perimeter to discourage any digging predators. Hard to tell what make the Scat left behind from the photo. But if your wire is not buried I’d say it was most likely a rodent/weasel digging in. We recently adding an owl statue to discourage hawks, and motion sensor lights facing the coop (battery powered, 2 pack from Amazon for 30$) to go off if something is outside their enclosure at night.

 

[quackkquack_]

We used 1/4” (you can do 1/2”) opening hardware cloth on the bottom half of our run( first 3’ up) and we trenched it at least 6” under the ground/buried it. I have been adding pavers to the outside perimeter occasionally as well all to discourage digging.

Definitely do hardware cloth and tench/bury it at least 6” below the soil line around your enclosure to discourage digging. I also have been adding pavers/rocks/other items to outside perimeter to discourage any digging predators. Hard to tell what make the Scat left behind from the photo. But if your wire is not buried I’d say it was most likely a rodent/weasel digging in. We recently adding an owl statue to discourage hawks, and motion sensor lights facing the coop (battery powered, 2 pack from Amazon for 30$) to go off if something is outside their enclosure at night.

Well whatever it was has given up now but I will definitely be doing all of this!
We also do have our wire buried so I'm still clueless on what it could be, it's most likely a small rodent but I dunno.