Pekin ducks died a gory and unexplainable death.

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I pretty sure op would know if they had rats in their house....just sayin

But sometimes predators dont show up until after the chick(ens) do. A few years ago I gave a friend 4 newly-hatched chicks to put under her broody. She lives in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area, and has a good safe coop in her fenced back yard. But she mentioned she sometimes left the coop door open after dark. I warned her that was a bad idea due to predator risks. She assured me she had never seen a chicken predator (raccoon, opossum, etc) in her yard during the entire many years she had lived there.

Well you can surely guess what comes next. She and family returned home from dinner one night well after dark. When she went to check on chickens and close the coop door, found a possum feasting on one of the half-grown chicks.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Sounds to me like the one duckling got caught on the sharp wire and eviscerated itself, not sure about the death of the other. Sounds like maybe it got hit by the falling divider. Hard to speculate without seeing the setup.

That may be the best explanation. After the duckling snagged itself on the sharp wire, when the chick saw the injury, it could have begun to pick and peck through the divider, causing further evisceration until the divider fell. The ducklings were only 1 week old so still very fragile. A falling divider could have certainly been fatal. Ugh. However it happened, very sorry the OP had to witness that.

 

[Butchers Wife]

I pretty sure op would know if they had rats in their house....just sayin

Brood boxes attract attention.