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- #591
Patti, remember when some of my big duckies were 5 weeks old and they were on their backs and struggling for air? Well one of my little Pekin duckies was having the same problem yesterday. I always make sure that they have water to wash down their food, and there wasn't anything in the brooder that she could've been choking on. She's 3 and a half weeks old. I happened to walk in there at the right moment, and noticed that she was having a hard time breathing, but not on her back. She was opening and closing her bill and no sound came out when she tried to peep, but there was a whistling sound coming from her nares. She kept drinking water like she was trying to wash something down and her pouch on her neck was FULL of water. It looked like she was drowning herself. The whites of her eyes were red and she looked really stressed. I pulled her out, and my sister and I rubbed her neck and chest and she regurgitated a lot of water. She just sat quietly in the towel for 15 minutes, then she was her normal, peeping, ducky self and she's been fine since. I didn't give them any food or water for a few hours after that. Their waterer isn't really deep enough for them to clean their nares, but I was giving them a bath twice a day because they were so messy. I don't know if that was the problem, but I gave them a different "duckling waterer" just in case:
Yes, it's a Huggies wipe box.
That's not all that happened. I went to put the ducks and chickens up for the night at 8:00, and the run was wide open. There was a drake in the pool, a chicken running around, and 3 of the chickens were in the shed. The rest were still in the run, thank goodness. Anyways, I was letting them out this morning, and noticed that Flapper (the drake that was in the pool), was limping really bad. He can't even walk - he hops on one foot, stands on one foot, and kinda topples around. I brought him in and gave him a bath so I could look at his foot. It doesn't look broken or swollen, and there's nothing stuck in it. It looks completely normal other then how bad he's limping on it. I put him in a bin with hay, and he's in the house. Should I make him some sort of splint? Should he be walking on it? Should I keep him away from the others? The drakes have been acting really aggressive and protective lately, I don't know if one of the other drakes attacked him, or he hurt himself when he got out some how.
@Miss Lydia @casportpony
Yes, it's a Huggies wipe box.
That's not all that happened. I went to put the ducks and chickens up for the night at 8:00, and the run was wide open. There was a drake in the pool, a chicken running around, and 3 of the chickens were in the shed. The rest were still in the run, thank goodness. Anyways, I was letting them out this morning, and noticed that Flapper (the drake that was in the pool), was limping really bad. He can't even walk - he hops on one foot, stands on one foot, and kinda topples around. I brought him in and gave him a bath so I could look at his foot. It doesn't look broken or swollen, and there's nothing stuck in it. It looks completely normal other then how bad he's limping on it. I put him in a bin with hay, and he's in the house. Should I make him some sort of splint? Should he be walking on it? Should I keep him away from the others? The drakes have been acting really aggressive and protective lately, I don't know if one of the other drakes attacked him, or he hurt himself when he got out some how.
@Miss Lydia @casportpony
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