Is there anything wrong with my duckling..wheezing?!

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scramble15

scramble15

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jan 30, 2014
25
0
22
Norfolk uk
Hi,
I have two, 3 week old ducklings who are lovely but one seems to be wheezing or breathing heavily I,m not sure.
I'm new to ducks so dont know if they breathe noisily anyway?
He (or she) seems well in every other way, eating, drinking and droppings are all fine and I dont know if this breathing could be due to stress when I pick him up to clean out the brooder?

They've been fed on duck starter crumbs and I've just started mixing with growers pellets today and water available all the time.
The brooder is a converted large dog cage and there's a brinsea chick brooder in there so they should be warm.
The bedding is 'Easichick' and cleaned out twice a day with wet clumps/dropping removed and totally changed every day or two aswell.

Do I need to give him a warm bath or go to the vets or would it be a good idea to start putting them outside in a pen during the day for more fresh air (I was going to do this soon anyway?)

Sorry for so any questions..

Thank you!!
big_smile.png
 
Is their waterer deep enough for them to dunk their WHOLE heads underwater? They have to be able to clean out their nares and eyes. I had this problem when I was raising my first ducklings and when someone suggested to get a deeper waterer, the ducklings stopped wheezing. It also could be due to the dust the bedding gives off. Time outside could be good depending on the weather.
 
Hi, thank you so much for replying so quickly.
No the waterer isnt deep enough for their whole head, for some reason I didnt think they needed to be able to do this until they were adults..?!
I will definitly do this, I'll put a bowl in...thanks very much
smile.png
 
scramble15 said:
Hi, thank you so much for replying so quickly.
No the waterer isnt deep enough for their whole head, for some reason I didnt think they needed to be able to do this until they were adults..?!
I will definitly do this, I'll put a bowl in...thanks very much
smile.png
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3 week old ducklings probably shouldn't be outside unless your having really warm weather. they should still be in temps around 75*since they are not feathered yet.
 
Hi, I wasn't sure, it's about 10/50 degrees here at the moment in the daytime so probably too chilly still? Thank you
 
Yes, too chilly still.

The general guideline is 90˚F/32˚C the first week, dropping 5˚F/2.5˚C each week till that temperature is close to the outdoor temperature. Being fully feathered is another guideline, but young ducks, even when almost adult size, are still growing and developing inside so I don't like stressing them with extreme temperatures.
 
My ducklings are almost three weeks. They are in our garage with a heat lamp. One sounds like it has asthma. Should I be concerned
 
sbscissors said:
My ducklings are almost three weeks. They are in our garage with a heat lamp. One sounds like it has asthma. Should I be concerned
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Do they have deep enough water to dunk their whole head in?
This is very important since ducks need to keep their nose clear.
And whats the temperature? By 3 weeks old they dont need a whole lot of heat. My 3 week olds are staying on the outaide of the heated area 65-68 ish degrees only to sleep. Rest of the time they run all over where its in the 50s
So you will want to make sure they arent too hot!
 
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