My Ducks Died Suddenly!

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Amanda1433

Amanda1433

Hatching
Sep 23, 2016
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I live in Texas and I also had two ducks die within 18 hours of one another. Both females, 6 months old. They displayed no visible symptoms other than suddenly they weren't interested in eating or drinking, didn't want to socialize with the other ducks or birds. The first one died yesterday after lying alone for several hours by herself, head forward, feet back, body mostly soft and pliable. There was no sign of discharge on the face and vent was clear. When I noticed her lagging behind and uninterested in eating, I checked her to make sure she wasn't egg-bound. Her abdomen was soft and her crop was soft. Her sister began displaying the same lethargic behavior about 6 hours after she did. The first duck died yesterday about 5pm, her sister died overnight last night.

Does anyone have any idea what happened to my babies? I don't have the funds for a autopsy at this time, but if we lose anymore ducks, I may have to take one of them to A&M.
 
Just as a precaution, I completely sanitized all my water tubs with bleach solution and am treating all my birds with Terra-Vet 10. There were absolutely no strange signs of sickness, no injuries. I just don't get it. We have only been raising our ducks for a 1 1/2 years. They aren't allowed to go out on the lake because I was worried about water contamination since it gets so hot here.

I was sanitizing my water tubs (we use baby swimming pools) once a month. Do you sanitize yours more often than that?
 
I don't sanitize the swim pans. I dump, rinse, and refill, and once a week or two scrub them pretty well.

Sometimes blackflies carry a protozooan disease, but younger ducklings not fully feathered are more susceptible to that.
 
Well we have flies coming out our ears right now. I'm not sure what to do about those. They seem to be worse this year than last year; it's rained more this year and I was thinking that may be why they've been so voracious. They're biting black flies too.

I'm concerned about my birds because we have had such a fantastic success rate up until a few days ago. I've lost a few chicks and a few baby ducklings to my cat. We didn't do too well with turkeys either due to predators.

We have 34 mixed chickens (bantams and standards), 17 ducks left (Peking and Magpie), 2 African geese (pets) and our sole surviving Narragansett turkey (pet).

The only other thing I've had, which caused me to get really aggressive in my sanitizing, was vent gleet in 3 of my leghorns. We had to put one of them down because she became so sick. That was a few months back though.
 
hugs.gif
 
Amanda1433 said:
I live in Texas and I also had two ducks die within 18 hours of one another. Both females, 6 months old. They displayed no visible symptoms other than suddenly they weren't interested in eating or drinking, didn't want to socialize with the other ducks or birds. The first one died yesterday after lying alone for several hours by herself, head forward, feet back, body mostly soft and pliable. There was no sign of discharge on the face and vent was clear. When I noticed her lagging behind and uninterested in eating, I checked her to make sure she wasn't egg-bound. Her abdomen was soft and her crop was soft. Her sister began displaying the same lethargic behavior about 6 hours after she did. The first duck died yesterday about 5pm, her sister died overnight last night.

Does anyone have any idea what happened to my babies? I don't have the funds for a autopsy at this time, but if we lose anymore ducks, I may have to take one of them to A&M.
Click to expand...
Welcome to BYC and sorry for your losses.
hugs.gif


Call Texas A&M and explain your financial situation and perhaps they can waive the necropsy fee.

-Kathy
 
Thank you Cathy! We will absolutely do that. It's been 2 days now and all my birds are doing well so far ...
 
Well this morning we have another sick duck. She's one of our breeders too! I was thinking it was just our last clutch that hatched 5 months ago, but now I see it's not. We separated her to a crate; her symptoms are lethargy, she won't eat or drink, she's not steady on her feet, and if we weren't in Texas I would say she's cold since she's shivering and shaking. Will call A&M today without a doubt.
 

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