ALaughInHerEye
In the Brooder
We got three baby ducks born March 7th. Male (Sebastian) and female (Collette) Welch Harlequin and a female (Genevieve) Cayuga. The girls are growing beautifully and getting some gorgeous feathers. Last week we found Sebatian so weak he couldn't stand missing all the feathers on his back and evacuated. Then he stopped breathing and I did CPR on him and he started to breathe again. He has always been smaller. But he was eating and drinking fine and he loves the water. I researched an essential oil mix that's reviving, relaxing, and antimicrobial to put into his bath that is safe and beneficial for ducks and after his bath he was a little more alert. So we made a liquid food out of fresh raw chicken egg, plain yogurt, honey and a little b complex. After a few sessions of dropper feeding he was eating again. He still had to spend a day on liquid feed before he could walk or even cheep. It's been a week now and he's gaining weight and growing but he really only wants to eat directly from my hand. He isn't regrowing his feathers. He stops eating and wants a bath every 4-5 spoonfuls. After the warm bath he is tired. His skin around the missing feathers was red so I put coconut oil on it and the redness is gone. He's not running fever. His temp is 106, which is within normal for ducks. Anybody have any thoughts??? We decided to separate him from the girl b/c I think Collette was over grooming him. She has this thing where she is preening and she tries to show him how and I saw her pull one of his little down fluffs out and he bled... She adores him but I think she's clumsily trying to mother him. We are giving them supervised time together every day. They are eating layer feed with a little b complex sprinkled on top b/c the girls perked up after we gave them a dose of the b complex after we found Sebastian nearly dead.