duckling not pooping as much??

[Quatie]

Oh! I was really worried I was giving her too much protein.
I did think the angel wing was caused by genetics since she got it when she was pretty tiny.

Completely understandable. A lot of people and sites talk about high protein being the cause but they really don't say how much. I recently dug into some old research articles on this and started to realize what levels they were talking about.

Hopefully everything goes better for her back on her old feed.

shes starting to act more sassy and doesn't wanna follow me quite often anymore)

Unfortunately they do go through that phase when you are just no longer cool any more. One group I raised didn't want anything to do with us or the adult ducks for a while. They were such teenagers. Eventually, when they a started to lay eggs, we were deemed worthy again.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Quatie has given great info. I just wanted to comment on your saying you haven't an outside enclosure for her. I hope you plan on building her and the other ducklings a secure coop and run. it's very important we give our ducks/poultry a safe place to sleep and be when we can't watch over them. There are many predators just waiting to take advantage of our ducks when they aren't kept safe.

 

[quackkquack_]

@Quatie has given great info. I just wanted to comment on your saying you haven't an outside enclosure for her. I hope you plan on building her and the other ducklings a secure coop and run. it's very important we give our ducks/poultry a safe place to sleep and be when we can't watch over them. There are many predators just waiting to take advantage of our ducks when they aren't kept safe.

Yep! We do plan on building her a secure coop and run within the next week since shes getting pretty big!
I'm doing tons and tons of research on materials and how to make the coop and run very secure because if anything happened to Newt and the other ducklings, I'd never forgive myself :')

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I use starter chicken feed till 2 weeks then switch to grower chicken feed gradually over the week
3/4-1/4 then 1/2-1/2 then 1/4 -3/4 so it’s not just a major switch usually every 2 days I move to the next one I also add nutrition yeast till 10-12 weeks 1tbs to 1 cup feed
I have a duck with angel wing that I kept on starter chicken feed till 7 weeks
My vet and vet tech told me this was from the high protein and they should be off it by 3 weeks and on 16-17-% protein by then
The lady I got my khaki Campbell from is a breeder and never had a duck get angel wing
He was when I first got ducks
Since then I haven’t kept them on starter past 3 weeks and not one of his offspring have got angel wing
I have hatched and sold eggs and give this same advice and over 60 offspring and not one angel wing so in my case this was not genetics and I think the vet was correct
Maybe each breed is different in how much protein they need
He is my smallest duck

 

[quackkquack_]

Does anyone by chance know what's going on with Newt?

In the past, she used to get water all in her food and she started drooling a ton of water and saliva out of her mouth and nose, that was the only symptom, nothing else, besides that she was perfectly fine.
I moved her food bowl farther away from her water and sat it up higher and ever since she's been fine and hasn't gotten any water in her food so I assumed the water in her food was the problem.

Since she went a while without eating since she wanted her normal chick food (didn't eat for around a day, we were trying to switch her to the 10% protein food as listed above), when she first got it back she went crazy and got a ton of water in it so I have to keep switching it until she finally calmed down.
It's been about two/three days now since then and shes only had a tad bit of water in her food once.
Just today, she got up from a nap and yawned and water/saliva came up from her throat and drooled out of her mouth but she swallowed it back. This is the second or third time I've seen it happen today and I'm worried for my little one.
Shes had no other symptoms. I've read sometimes they drool some of it back up from drinking or eating too fast and yeah she eats and drinks pretty fast sometimes but sometimes it just happens randomly.

Hoping I can get some answers and that she'll be okay!

Wanted to update on the saliva thing with Newt.
I've noticed shes swallowing a lot lately, like a lot of saliva is coming up from her throat but she swallows it before it can come out.
I've also noticed she seems to be drinking more than usual.
The saliva isn't thick, it's more runny than anything.

Fingers crossed she isn't sick because we don't have any good bird vets in the area..

 

[Quatie]

Wanted to update on the saliva thing with Newt.
I've noticed shes swallowing a lot lately, like a lot of saliva is coming up from her throat but she swallows it before it can come out.
I've also noticed she seems to be drinking more than usual.
The saliva isn't thick, it's more runny than anything.

Fingers crossed she isn't sick because we don't have any good bird vets in the area..

Does her crop feel hard at all? My thought would still be possible impaction.

I going to tag @Miss Lydia and @HollowOfWisps in case they have other thoughts about this.

 

[quackkquack_]

Does her crop feel hard at all? My thought would still be possible impaction.

I going to tag @Miss Lydia and @HollowOfWisps in case they have other thoughts about this.

No, her crop doesn't feel hard, if I'm feeling it correctly lol.
I've also noticed that sometimes it looks like shes hiccuping, although I've read they can't hiccup. I think I've seen her do it around 3 times now?
Dunno if it's her wings twitching, doesn't look like it, feels like it's coming from her chest/belly, like if she was hiccuping.

 

[Quatie]

No, her crop doesn't feel hard, if I'm feeling it correctly lol.
I've also noticed that sometimes it looks like shes hiccuping, although I've read they can't hiccup. I think I've seen her do it around 3 times now?
Dunno if it's her wings twitching, doesn't look like it, feels like it's coming from her chest/belly, like if she was hiccuping.

If you can post a video of that, that would help. Does she shake her head at all?

 

[quackkquack_]

If you can post a video of that, that would help. Does she shake her head at all?

I can try to get a video in the morning if she does it again.
No, she doesn't shake her head at all unless when shes grooming. When shes grooming and shakes her head, sometimes water just seems to come out of her nose or mouth.

 

[Quatie]

I can try to get a video in the morning if she does it again.
No, she doesn't shake her head at all unless when shes grooming. When shes grooming and shakes her head, sometimes water just seems to come out of her nose or mouth.

Ok. That is good. I was thinking maybe she got something down the wrong pipe. But that sounds less likely.