whiteybird
Songster
Hi everyone,
Second post, this time about my ducks, not chickens...the latter seem to be doing well these days...
I have read a lot of the posts on ducks, toxins, and their symptoms on here, but felt I wanted to start a new thread to see your reaction to my duck caretaking abilities. I am questioning them now that one of my first three ducks died this morning as I was petting it.
We got three pekin ducks in early April when they were 1-2 days old. Pretty sure we got one female (makes the quiet quacking sound) and two boys (more like a loud obnoxious honking noise). They are not quite 3 months old now.
We built a coop for our chickens made almost completely out of cedar that's stained a cedar (orange) color. The coop 'floor' is about 3.5 feet off the ground and made of wire racks so their poop falls through to the ground and can be scooped out for compost (we have a 12" thick layer of pine shavings/diatomaceous earth in the bottom). When we moved the ducks outside from the garage we ended up keeping them in the bottom of the coop (under the wire rack floor) because they couldn't/didn't like walking on the racks. Not to mention one of our chickens (the smallest one, of course) picks on the ducks so separating them felt like a good idea.
We bought a plastic kiddie pool for the ducks from Walmart and have been filling it with well water from the shallow pump we installed a year or so ago. the water isnt totally clear but it isn't muddy per se, just tinted brownish because it isnt really filtered. I didn't see a problem with this originally.
The chickens won't allow us to feed the ducks different food from themselves, so we ended up mixing the last of our baby duck food with the layena food. We have a food container from TSC in the run hanging from a post about 8" off the ground. Both chickens and ducks eat from it.
The chickens have a water bucket with nipples on the bottom to drink from; I have seen the ducks drinking from this as well when the one chicken bullies them away from their designated water pan (stainless steel 1/3 pan from a restaurant supply store). They also drink the water in their kiddie pool.
Point being, when I let the birds out yesterday morning I thought I noticed one of the boy ducks limping a little. I watched it for a minute or so but when I approached them all three walked away from me as usual so I didn't think it was serious. We were gone all day yesterday and didn't get back til around dusk. When I went to herd the ducks into the bottom of the coop the limping one got to the pine shavings but stopped as if he didnt have the strength to walk on such a spongy/irregular/non-flat surface. He was trying to use his wings to move. After doing some research we dumped the pool and i got them fresh water, which they drank a lot of. The sick duck could take a couple steps but would immediately sit down.
When I got up in the morning it couldn't walk at all...I put him in a large cardboard box with a towel and brought him inside, gave him a water bowl and a food bowl. He shook his head as if choking on the food but drank the water ok. Within 3-4 hours he couldn't hold his head up, and about a half hour later, he died.
Sounds a lot like botulism to me...he pooped a greenish cloudy watery mess last night once or twice. Choked on some dried mealworms last night too. As if he was losing control of his muscles.
Is it dumb to have them under the chickens in the coop? I figure they ate so much of their own poop as ducklings, they are bound to still eat poop whether it is in the coop or on the ground in the run.
I didn't think botulism and the like could grow so fast...it's been crazy hot and humid here (sarasota, fl); a week ago it rained almost every day so the run was kind of muddy and there was a stint where we had a ton of flies.
He deteriorated so rapidly...
What do I do? Am I an idiot for caring for them the way I am? Should I give the other two some active charcoal, and if so, where do I get it? How can I give them electrolytes, can it be from a bottle of smart water? I feel like gatorade has too much unnatural crud in it to give the birds (what does that say about what we put in our own bodies?)
Any advice would be great...thanks all.
Sarah
Second post, this time about my ducks, not chickens...the latter seem to be doing well these days...
I have read a lot of the posts on ducks, toxins, and their symptoms on here, but felt I wanted to start a new thread to see your reaction to my duck caretaking abilities. I am questioning them now that one of my first three ducks died this morning as I was petting it.
We got three pekin ducks in early April when they were 1-2 days old. Pretty sure we got one female (makes the quiet quacking sound) and two boys (more like a loud obnoxious honking noise). They are not quite 3 months old now.
We built a coop for our chickens made almost completely out of cedar that's stained a cedar (orange) color. The coop 'floor' is about 3.5 feet off the ground and made of wire racks so their poop falls through to the ground and can be scooped out for compost (we have a 12" thick layer of pine shavings/diatomaceous earth in the bottom). When we moved the ducks outside from the garage we ended up keeping them in the bottom of the coop (under the wire rack floor) because they couldn't/didn't like walking on the racks. Not to mention one of our chickens (the smallest one, of course) picks on the ducks so separating them felt like a good idea.
We bought a plastic kiddie pool for the ducks from Walmart and have been filling it with well water from the shallow pump we installed a year or so ago. the water isnt totally clear but it isn't muddy per se, just tinted brownish because it isnt really filtered. I didn't see a problem with this originally.
The chickens won't allow us to feed the ducks different food from themselves, so we ended up mixing the last of our baby duck food with the layena food. We have a food container from TSC in the run hanging from a post about 8" off the ground. Both chickens and ducks eat from it.
The chickens have a water bucket with nipples on the bottom to drink from; I have seen the ducks drinking from this as well when the one chicken bullies them away from their designated water pan (stainless steel 1/3 pan from a restaurant supply store). They also drink the water in their kiddie pool.
Point being, when I let the birds out yesterday morning I thought I noticed one of the boy ducks limping a little. I watched it for a minute or so but when I approached them all three walked away from me as usual so I didn't think it was serious. We were gone all day yesterday and didn't get back til around dusk. When I went to herd the ducks into the bottom of the coop the limping one got to the pine shavings but stopped as if he didnt have the strength to walk on such a spongy/irregular/non-flat surface. He was trying to use his wings to move. After doing some research we dumped the pool and i got them fresh water, which they drank a lot of. The sick duck could take a couple steps but would immediately sit down.
When I got up in the morning it couldn't walk at all...I put him in a large cardboard box with a towel and brought him inside, gave him a water bowl and a food bowl. He shook his head as if choking on the food but drank the water ok. Within 3-4 hours he couldn't hold his head up, and about a half hour later, he died.
Sounds a lot like botulism to me...he pooped a greenish cloudy watery mess last night once or twice. Choked on some dried mealworms last night too. As if he was losing control of his muscles.
Is it dumb to have them under the chickens in the coop? I figure they ate so much of their own poop as ducklings, they are bound to still eat poop whether it is in the coop or on the ground in the run.
I didn't think botulism and the like could grow so fast...it's been crazy hot and humid here (sarasota, fl); a week ago it rained almost every day so the run was kind of muddy and there was a stint where we had a ton of flies.
He deteriorated so rapidly...
What do I do? Am I an idiot for caring for them the way I am? Should I give the other two some active charcoal, and if so, where do I get it? How can I give them electrolytes, can it be from a bottle of smart water? I feel like gatorade has too much unnatural crud in it to give the birds (what does that say about what we put in our own bodies?)
Any advice would be great...thanks all.
Sarah
