I'm heartbroken 💔

[Drastil]

I love the look of your setup, but it's not very secure, and poses significant risk for when you're not watching them.

As far as survivors, it depends on how long ago you lost them. If it was 15 minutes ago, I'd search for a bit as far as you think they could run, checking out anything that looks like a hiding place (shrubs, underneath the porch, stacks of stuff in the yard, etc). Unfortunately, I don't think your odds are good, but if it were me, I would at least want to check to make sure I didn't miss them. After about an hour or so, I'd probably give it up.

Racoons, rats, snakes, cats, foxes, etc. can reach through the bars of your wire dog crate. I actually covered one of my crates with 1/2" hardware cloth using metal zip ties - it was a pain but worth it to me for the increased security of the crate.

Any flying creature or thing that can jump or climb or push could easily come over top of your barriers into the run area.

Hardware cloth (1/2") and a secure run area are the best defenses. Chicken wire is only useful for keeping chickens in an area, will not keep ANY predators out. It may seem to work for a while since predators may see a visual barrier, but the moment they test it, they can get through it. So many critters can chew through it and push through it. Welded wire (1"x2") can also be helpful as a support for the hardware cloth, and cattle panels are often used to support hardware cloth in hoop coops, if that's of interest. Metal roof panels can also be helpful to provide barriers in key areas. Metal zip ties are your friend. Regular staples can be pulled out by racoons, landscaping heavy duty staples generally can't, but I prefer radial washers and screws to secure hardware cloth to wood.

There are a lot of ideas here on this site that could help you. Good luck sorting things out!

I really hope you find some of your babies. I think the odds are low, but would be loved to be proved wrong.

Thank you so much for your in-depth input, it's a lot to think of. I keep thinking everything is so expensive though (you probably noticed that our little setup is very... Improvised...) I think I'll be making another thread to get input on my plans. For now, I'll be looking at securing the kennel and only let the chicks I'm getting soon out when we are WATCHING.

 

[Drastil]

Guess the hawk feather we found was a red herring? Do raccoons just pick the ducklings up and carry them all off? A rat snake I could see, very full rat snake...

 

[Drastil]

I would like to say I appreciate the input y'all. Yesterday was the first time I ever lost any birds and it was after a week of getting into the healthy habit of going out and caring for them every day... I had managed to make it a part of my day I looked forward to after getting home from work... To the point where the day before losing them was the first time we gave them mealworms as a treat to help teach the ducklings that humans weren't dangerous (I've had a really hard time getting motivated to go do things outside in the past.) I'm still messed up by it (I have an issue with anxiety) to the point where I still barely slept last night worried that my other animals were okay (note, they're all fine).