Adult ducks suddenly unable to walk, one dead

[SometimesCraftr]

More reading. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...appetite-falling-weight-loss-lethargy.873138/

Good info, but I know without a doubt it's not anything like metal bits they've eaten and they eat their food out of the big plastic tubs you feed farm animals from. I've forgotten what they are called. Those big black rubbery ones, well you can get all sizes, and we use a few. We don't use any pesticides and don't have weird plant life. It's mostly just yard grass and weeds and some leftover veggie plants in beds that they've always rummaged through for years. At this point i'd be most concerned about something that was dormant in the mud or a weed that they ate that they shouldn't have. We live in the PNW so it's very wet here, and we don't have anything in that part of the yard that isn't in the other part. But that's been the only change - changing parts of the property they graze on, that they are always on in the winter.

 

[SometimesCraftr]

Miss Lydia, this is what Gladys was doing too and probably Alma a while back in the fall when they were molting and I thought they were dying! This, and the shaky leg thing. Their legs would tremble and they'd suddenly fall down and couldn't get up. They would try to walk with their wings spread out but limped along. They couldn't get away from me so I was able to pick them up. I wonder if where my duck run has metallic stuff in there that we don't know about! Our property was owned by a lot of people and we've found some weird stuff on it like a toxic barrel of who knows what that we brought to the dump.

This sounds like what my ducks are doing. But I don't have anything toxic out there and no metal of any kind. We use to have 2 babydoll sheep and it is about 1/2 acre or more of yard (the house is on more acreage, they just have access to that much of it) and it's all fenced in. My family lives on all sides of me and they don't use chemicals either, so I keep thinking it has to be a plant, or mold or something like that.

 

[DuckyDonna]

This sounds like what my ducks are doing. But I don't have anything toxic out there and no metal of any kind. We use to have 2 babydoll sheep and it is about 1/2 acre or more of yard (the house is on more acreage, they just have access to that much of it) and it's all fenced in. My family lives on all sides of me and they don't use chemicals either, so I keep thinking it has to be a plant, or mold or something like that.

Idk, our property was owned by a lot of people before we bought it. The last guy was a stone mason and he didn't have the place long. We don't know a lot about what was before him but we did find a 55-gallon drum of "something" that went to the dump which was found where the duck run is. It goes way-way back to civil war days when they grew beans and cotton here but I'm more concerned now about that drum of whatever!

 

[Miss Lydia]

It’s very hard to know. I’d do the flush since you have the activated charcoal go right by the directions on the flush thread. Something killed your one duck so start with the flush .

 

[Miss Lydia]

Miss Lydia, this is what Gladys was doing too and probably Alma a while back in the fall when they were molting and I thought they were dying! This, and the shaky leg thing. Their legs would tremble and they'd suddenly fall down and couldn't get up. They would try to walk with their wings spread out but limped along. They couldn't get away from me so I was able to pick them up. I wonder if where my duck run has metallic stuff in there that we don't know about! Our property was owned by a lot of people and we've found some weird stuff on it like a toxic barrel of who knows what that we brought to the dump.

They are okay now right. And from what I have read they sometimes can recover from botulism. Hardware wire disease will def kill them unless treated by a vet.

 

[SometimesCraftr]

 

[Miss Lydia]

@casportpony is our poop specialist.

 

[casportpony]

That poop doesn't look normal. What type of food do you feed them?

 

[Miss Lydia]

These are adult ducks and I am not saying it couldn’t be a niacin def. and yes LiquidB Complex is what should be used when there is serious issues so treating with the complex is another treatment. I would like the OP to give info how long has symptoms been going on? And I what do you feed them

 

[Table4Six]

I had the same thing occur with one of my hens. I took her to the vet and they treated her for ulcerated calluses on the bottom of her feet, suspecting that's what was making her struggle to even walk a few feet. Same thing you were describing with trying to use her wings. Her feet seemed to heal, but I soon found out this was something more. She passed away shortly after visiting the vet. I miss her so much, and still have never discovered the cause of her symptoms. It all happened so fast, the struggle for her to walk became more and more apparent, but in a very short amount of time, even antibiotics showed no improvement. Malnutrition was not the cause in this case, no other ducks in my flock showed any sign of these symptoms while eating the same diet.