One of my Ducks has a major issue, please help me!

Hello,

Hopefully someone on here can help me out since I feel trapped in a corner and I'm not sure what to do next. I got 2 male Pekin ducks on December 21st, but after close examination we feel that one may be a female, they are also strictly indoor ducks for now. We thought one of them was sick when they were about 3-4 weeks old so we took both of them to the vet to be checked out and the vet prescribed an antibiotic, which seemed to do the trick and they were both perky and eating loads of food.

Recently this past Monday (Feb 15th) my boyfriend came home and let them out, they both came sprinting out to get cuddles and treats. He noticed one of them (the female we thought was sick a few weeks ago) got off his lap and spread her wings, so he picked her up and she walked into their area to eat. When I came home from work a few hours later I opened the pen to let them out and noticed the female couldn't walk at all, she was spreading her wings to walk. So we were both freaking out and put them in the bath and she would swim around but not move/wasn't as perky as the day before, when we took her out of the bath we noticed tear drops coming out of her eyes. She couldn't stand so we dried her with a blowdryer and we kept her separated from the other duck in a crate to sleep.

We called the vet and were able to get in the next morning (Tuesday), the vet said she looked ok but we showed her the poor thing couldn't walk so we got x-rays, bloodwork, and fecal matter tests done, the vet never prescribed anything to us and said the x-ray was fine. The next day my boyfriend took care of them and she didn't really move/eat much but was drinking a ton of water, but she would eat treats, just not her normal food.

Thursday we both had class/work so we kept the ducks separated and when I came home I just cleaned their area and made sure she was drinking water but she still wasn't eating much. When my boyfriend came home we put them in the bath together and the poor thing still wasn't being as active. When we took them out my boyfriend picked up the duck and he felt a small pop in her right leg and instantly she was standing up and able to preen a little bit but she couldn't walk much. Keep in mind this entire time we still haven't received a phone call from the vet about the bloodwork. They are still separated at this point.

Friday we both had work again so when I got home she was walking more/drinking, but still didn't have a huge appetite. But she was being lovable, was able to preen herself, and even walking/talking. When my boyfriend got home he told me the vet called and said everything came back normal, that her calcium may be a bit too low (.5%) but the vet said the duck looked perfectly healthy, my boyfriend told the vet what happened about the pop and the vet seemed clueless and had no idea what to tell him but she tried to tell him to get antibiotics/some shot/some packets (keep in mind we already spent almost 500$ on all the tests and got 0 answers). The vet is suppose to be an avian specialist in our area. We decided to put the ducks back together so they could socialize and cuddle.


Today (Feb 20) I was home and they both seemed great, it seemed she was on a recovery path, but she still hasn't eaten much, just nibbled a bit (it looks like she lost weight). I left to run errands and when my boyfriend came home from work he noticed the female was laying down again and COULDN'T walk again! I'm not sure if maybe the male is trying to mate with her and hurts her (they turn 2 months tonight). It looks like this time it's her LEFT leg instead of the RIGHT one that my boyfriend felt pop. I'm not exactly sure what to do next, they get niacin in their water with multivitamins/electrolytes, they get chic starter and are slowly transitioning to pellets, the treats are a bag of random veggies and they get kale/broccoli with their water and other veggies as well. Is the male beating her up or something, he's HUGE compared to her, should i try epsom salt with the bath? Please someone help us, we love these animals to death and would do anything for them.

Some drakes can be very aggressive towards their hens, so I think you might be going the right direction with separating them, but that usually just happens with older birds. Could she be getting too cold? What do you use as bedding?

murphyfarm said:

Some drakes can be very aggressive towards their hens, so I think you might be going the right direction with separating them, but that usually just happens with older birds. Could she be getting too cold? What do you use as bedding?

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They sleep with stuffed animals, pee pads underneath, and a heat lamp is on but it's not on very high. But I thought they couldn't lay until a later age, or can they still mate?

I think she is slipping on the pee pads. I would move her to either a crate or a large cardboard box with plenty of bedding. I have had ducks before that have mated way before they started laying. The heat should be fine, ducklings are very hardy from my experience.

So, they are two months old? But he is much larger?

I would separate them with some plastic poultry fence so they can lie down next to each other but not touch. I would give her supervised tub time, with the water temperature about 70F.

I would also give her something more grippy to walk on... leg problems are not uncommon in Pekins.

If she has been on antibiotics, she may have lost her appetite because of that. There are poultry probiotics you can get that are not that expensive.

She sounds too young to have egg yolk peritonitis, and the vet has checked for infection and found none, do I understand correctly? I think having them on starter at two months of age is a little longer than what I have read is recommended. I have read starter for the first 2 to 3 weeks.

But you are moving them over to pellets, good.

Do her legs look normal? It may be that she isn't getting enough niacin. Some ducks are more sensitive to nutritional deficiency. You aren't using slow-release in the water, right?

Did she stop eating when you changed foods. Maybe she doesn't like it. You might try some high protein/high calorie snacks to help her put some weight on. But make sure she still gets all the important vitamins and minerials.

Warm baths will definitely help so keep those up.

If you are not comfortable with the vet you may try finding another. I know it's hard to find avian vets but you should feel good about taking your animals to them.

Amiga said:

So, they are two months old? But he is much larger?

I would separate them with some plastic poultry fence so they can lie down next to each other but not touch. I would give her supervised tub time, with the water temperature about 70F.

I would also give her something more grippy to walk on... leg problems are not uncommon in Pekins.

If she has been on antibiotics, she may have lost her appetite because of that. There are poultry probiotics you can get that are not that expensive.

She sounds too young to have egg yolk peritonitis, and the vet has checked for infection and found none, do I understand correctly? I think having them on starter at two months of age is a little longer than what I have read is recommended. I have read starter for the first 2 to 3 weeks.

But you are moving them over to pellets, good.

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Sorry for the late reply, we've been very busy lately.

yes they just turned 2 months old, we did separate them and she seems to be doing a bit better but we put them together today and noticed the male chasing her around in the pen nibbling at her backside, so we took her out and put her in the bath and she DID NOT want to take a bath and began hyperventilating and when we took her out she wouldn't walk around. Could she be traumatized from the male and just be overreacting or what is going on cause she usually loves bath time.

She is off the antibiotic now, that was from a previous visit. I honestly believe the vet is an avian vet but she has no idea how to handle a duck. I'm not sure what to do next, they are both molting, could that be causing an issue?

Sounds like she is stressed. Some avian vets aren't very familiar with waterfowl.

Molting also makes them very unhappy about being handled. Part of that may be feeling vulnerable, part it may be their skin is sore.

Please keep us posted.

Some poultry vitamins in their water may help - once every week or so.

lomine said:

Do her legs look normal? It may be that she isn't getting enough niacin. Some ducks are more sensitive to nutritional deficiency. You aren't using slow-release in the water, right?

Did she stop eating when you changed foods. Maybe she doesn't like it. You might try some high protein/high calorie snacks to help her put some weight on. But make sure she still gets all the important vitamins and minerials.

Warm baths will definitely help so keep those up.

If you are not comfortable with the vet you may try finding another. I know it's hard to find avian vets but you should feel good about taking your animals to them.

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Her legs do look more separated, shes always been on multivitamin/electrolytes but we did get a all natural niacin 200mg pill to add to a gallon of water that she drinks out of and shes shown some signs of improvement, she walks around more but I can tell from the way shes walking that it isn't normal (it almost looks like it doesn't bend at the bottom and she kinda just lifts her whole leg up to move.

She won't really eat her usual feed, even the old stuff we gave her but she does seem to eat treats when we give her them so maybe shes just being spoiled?

We put her in the bath today and this is the first time she literally would not bathe herself and was freaking out, like she wanted out badly. So we took her out and she just laid there and didn't move and would spread her wings when she tried to get up. Maybe she overexerted herself in the water when she was swimming? I just really hope it isn't anything serious because it's destroying me watching her struggle when she's such a lovable pet.

Amiga said:

Sounds like she is stressed. Some avian vets aren't very familiar with waterfowl.

Molting also makes them very unhappy about being handled. Part of that may be feeling vulnerable, part it may be their skin is sore.

Please keep us posted.

Some poultry vitamins in their water may help - once every week or so.

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Yeah she is currently cuddling with me now on a small dog bed, she seemed to calm down now but I've never seen her freak out like that before. She was walking around while the tub was going and as soon as I put her in she just flipped out and instantly wanted out.

Do you have a food you would recommend for a 2 month old?