Lost two ducklings to a hawk

[Nitralw]

We have free range chickens and ducks. They’re locked in their coops at night and let out in the morning when the sun comes up. The last two days I’ve lost two ducklings, one each day. The first day we didn’t know what took the duckling. Raccoons usually don’t come out in the middle of the day and all that was left was intestines. No blood, no feathers, nothing. Today we literally saw a hawk swoop down and grab a duckling out of their pond and fly off with it.. we’re down to only one duckling left! We are devastated. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
So far the chickens have been fine, we’ve had the chickens a lot longer than the ducks.

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

How old are the ducklings? Would you be able to get a companion for the lonely one? Sorry for your loses

 

[Nitralw]

How old are the ducklings? Would you be able to get a companion for the lonely one? Sorry for your loses

They were around 4 weeks old. I am going to rehome the last little duckling until we get this hawk situation figured out, I don’t want any more of them to be eaten

 

[Gallinarium]

I'm sorry for your loss. Hawks don't usually bother full-grown birds so the best thing to do is keep the little ones in a covered enclosure, and wait to let them out until bigger. You might want to get the lone ducky a friend.

 

[Nitralw]

I'm sorry for your loss. Hawks don't usually bother full-grown birds so the best thing to do is keep the little ones in a covered enclosure, and wait to let them out until bigger. You might want to get the lone ducky a friend.

We always have kept the smaller ones inside the “shop” until they’re bigger but it’s so hot in Texas right now over 100 every day and I didn’t want them to overheat even with a fan on them it’s much cooler outside I tried to pick the better option

 

[Gallinarium]

We always have kept the smaller ones inside the “shop” until they’re bigger but it’s so hot in Texas right now over 100 every day and I didn’t want them to overheat even with a fan on them it’s much cooler outside I tried to pick the better option

It's completely understandable to have them outside for that reason. Do you have a covered run? If not, you could make one. Otherwise you could try putting a kiddie wading pool in the coop. An extreme measures for hawk control is getting a guard goose.

 

[hayley3]

It's completely understandable to have them outside for that reason. Do you have a covered run? If not, you could make one. Otherwise you could try putting a kiddie wading pool in the coop. An extreme measures for hawk control is getting a guard goose.

A goose can't really protect other birds from a hawk. They are more watchful and can alert the others and maybe their size can intimidate SOME hawks to think twice but if a hawk sees small prey they can just swoop down and grab it without even encountering the goose.
The best deterrents for both foxes and hawks are large animals such as a llamas, donkeys or other livestock.

 

[Gallinarium]

I don't know firsthand, as I've never even had any geese, but I've heard a bunch of stories about geese defending against raptors.