Duck seizure

one of my two ducks (Cayuga) has what appears to be a seizure every few days, is this common in that kind? he gets real stiff then kicks around for a few seconds and then seems dazed for about a minute then is fine again, however he is unstable for about five min after this.

Any thoughts?

I had a Muscovy drakelet that got stuck in our big pool (before he could fly)...it made him somewhat 'retarded' & he would have shaky spells, not really a full on seizure but he'd get goofy, shake & then be dazed for a bit afterwards. He was fine besides that but it did happen almost everyday.

There's a local pet store that has this poor little duck hen that seizes all the time. IMO, it's kind of inhumane to let her suffer. they just keep her on a newspaper area in the rear (but main) part of the store.... i feel bad for the kids that have seen it happen, she's right next to the puppies . not my favorite store, they also had a silkie rooster with HUGE spurs poking him in the butt. I talked to them about how to remove them and they were totally rude...i wanted to sneak & twist them off for him. poor baby

Im sorry to hear about your duck. One of my 7 ducks started having seizures around 3 months old. One day it was fine, and the next it appeared to die right before my eyes. I heard this loud quack and looked over to find a stiff duck laying on the ground with 6 around it watching trying to figure out what just happened. Then it just came back to life! I mean it was stiff and everything. It happened the next day too. My Mom had told me she found my duck dead for real this time and said I better get it away from the others. I went and every duck was on its feet and alive. The first few times it was funny because we called it the "fainting duck". This duck then got the name Zombie since it liked to die and come back to life. This went on for the next month. I researched and figured the it was having seizures. It would have about one or two seizures a day. About a month after I witnessed the first seizure Zombie sadly passed away. Zombies seizures sound different than yours though. It's neck would stretch backwards and stiffen up, and it would fall forward to the ground.

Out of the 7 Pekins Zombie was the only one with this condition. After Zombie passed away I researched more online in search of an answer and read about a type of duck hepatitis carried by Mallards. The symptoms were exactly what Zombie had. Then I realized, just weeks before Zombies first seizure I hatched 3 wild Mallards after the mother was killed. They were perfectly healthy but then 2 suddenly died one day for no apparent reason. I found one dead, and tried everything I could do to save the other duckling. As it died it had sort of a seizure as well, and it put its neck back the same exact way that my Pekin would soon do. They died the day before Zombies seizure started. I guess this type of hepatitis is common in Mallards and the duckling could have given it to my one Pekin. There was a thread I had about Zombie over the summer.

One of my ducks just started doing this today. So what is recommended? Should I let it continue or should I humanely dispatch it? Do you think it can give this problem to my other ducks? Mine is a peking about 2 months old. Please let me know if anyone has an opinion on this.

pdonoho said:

One of my ducks just started doing this today. So what is recommended? Should I let it continue or should I humanely dispatch it? Do you think it can give this problem to my other ducks? Mine is a peking about 2 months old. Please let me know if anyone has an opinion on this.

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At 2 months it could be a dietary dif. what are you feeding, and can it still eat and drink? if so get some Niacin ask for it at pharmacy not flush free or time released, start adding 150mgs crushed to 1 gal of drinking water and put into what ever your using for them to drink out of also poultry vitamins, niacin dif can cause neurological problems as well as leg problems pleas give more details, how often what are you feeding where is it living[brooder coop] what temps inside where your keeping them, what kind of bedding etc.

Sorry I didn't get back to you- my daughter in law had her baby that night so... Any way we did end up putting her down. She?He? was having 2 or 3 seizures every hour- more or less and decided with life a little crazy because of new grandbaby- it was the best thing for everyone. None of our other critters (chickens, ducks, peacocks or turkeys) have started having any issues so it must have just been something with this one. Thanks for your help.

pdonoho said:

Sorry I didn't get back to you- my daughter in law had her baby that night so... Any way we did end up putting her down. She?He? was having 2 or 3 seizures every hour- more or less and decided with life a little crazy because of new grandbaby- it was the best thing for everyone. None of our other critters (chickens, ducks, peacocks or turkeys) have started having any issues so it must have just been something with this one. Thanks for your help.

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I'm sorry for your loss

But Congrats on new grand baby

I have a what I suspect is a Jumbo Pekin duck that is about 2 weeks old. And it is having seizures. Of 6 Pekin ducks in the brooder, it is the biggest and is almost half again bigger than the others.

At least twice a day this duck goes limp for a few minutes even rolling on its side. You would think it was dead, but then it starts moving again, but is wobbly and can't even walk at first. It takes about 5 minutes before it is full active and normal acting again, albeit it is still weak at that point.

I am headed to STC to get some vitamins, but was wondering if anyone had a similar experience, and if the duck survived.

Ducklings do survive seizures - not in every case, but often enough.

What are they eating? I suspect with such rapid growth this one is sensitive to nutrient deficiencies. Often the culprit is a lack of niacin or other B vitamins.

So, brewer's yeast in the food - a tablespoon once or twice a day, can help meet that B vitamin need.

One can also get plain niacin and add 100 to150 mg per gallon of drinking water for several weeks. Often improvement is seen within days.

They are eating dumor starter/grower. I will get some brewers yeast as well.

Thank you!