HELP......! Sick Ducks

Speceider said:

They spray here anytime the mosquito count reaches some minimum to help prevent West Nile in humans....in recent years, West Nile has been a problem for sage grouse in Montana and Wyoming. If you have mosquitos, you have West Nile.

Clint

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I know we live in the mountains of NC and have had West Nile here.

will that cause seemingly perfectly healthy ducks to be fine at night at lockup and dead the next morning? the pond is completely drainned now and yes, mosquitos galore. other interresting note. day after the second duck died, the gate to their pen was unlocked and left open a crack. now, this is NOT an easy feat. this gate needs to be kicked open and the lock is always jammed. my kids did not do this and i know for a fact i closed the gate when i left. starting to wonder if the ducks had help from humans in their early demise.

pastrymama said:

will that cause seemingly perfectly healthy ducks to be fine at night at lockup and dead the next morning? the pond is completely drainned now and yes, mosquitos galore. other interresting note. day after the second duck died, the gate to their pen was unlocked and left open a crack. now, this is NOT an easy feat. this gate needs to be kicked open and the lock is always jammed. my kids did not do this and i know for a fact i closed the gate when i left. starting to wonder if the ducks had help from humans in their early demise.

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Have you had neighbors complain of noise or smell? I'd hate to think someone would do something like this but it has happened.

Miss Lydia said:

Have you had neighbors complain of noise or smell? I'd hate to think someone would do something like this but it has happened.

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ew. awful thought. My next thought is padlocks.

After searching for new ducks locally I met a woman who has many (130+) ducks and geese on her property. She has been at this for a while. I got telling her about my losses and she said she had lost all of her muscovies, some apple yards and quite a few khakis to the exact same thing this spring. She had sent samples off to Guelph University for testing as they have an intense agricultural program. The results came back as a virus that is transmitted through the droppings of wild birds. This virus was intolerant of broad spectrum antibiotics according to their tests. From what this lady told me, many of her contacts lost ducks this spring, so it sounds fairly wide spread.

We got talking about her breeds as I was interested in the khakis for eggs. She talked me out of them. She raises khakis and silver appleyards. She had some accidental crosses of the two breeds which had desirable outcomes; large roasting duck, lots of large eggs and a overall neat looking duck. The most interesting aspect however is that she never lost one cross to this virus. I guess you can credit that to hybrid vigor..? She is now focusing her efforts on this cross and trying to register it as a breed. Oh, and they are sex linked as well which is cool. I 've had them now for a few weeks. I've gotta get some pictures of them. Anywho, I purchased 8 of these ducks as she only sold them as pairs; four ducks and four drakes. I now have more than I wanted..... duck math. Luckily I have nothing against subtraction.

My other four are doing well. They are blowing their feathers like crazy. they are all over the yard. Their house is done and I am working on the pen. The posts are in and the fence should be on this weekend.