- Nov 16, 2015
- 308
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Hoping someone can help me try and figure out what might have happened...
In brief:
8 week domestic drake, found dead, no sign of illness or injury in good weight, last seen in apparently good health, energetic, eating well, normal everything, 2 siblings have suddenly started limping at same time no obviuos cause of lameness. entire flock clearly disturbed when i got home today and unusually frightened of me and of location where i found dead drake:
In detail:
Today I was out most of the day and came home late afternoon. I noticed when feeding my flock an hr or so later that they all seemed awfully jumpy, for example getting a fright whenever i had anything in my hand. Normally if i have something big or flappy like a towel or sheet that freaks them out but even when walking toward them mid feed with afresh bag of pellets scared them (and my ducks KNOW the pellet feed bags/sacks and normally me holding one is the same as a large neon sign saying FOOD HERE
Through the evening they were much more nervous than usual and i couldn't see a reason why. finally late at night i walked around the pond area as they were all freaked out and sitting on the pond constantly, so i walked around looking to see if a cat was outside the enclosure etc.
and then on the side of the pond they were all avoiding I found one of my juvenille ducks/ducklings dead. he was a drake about 8 weeks old, good body weight, no sign of injury, no discharge from vent, nares etc. he was one of 9(actually 2 clutches one of 4 one of 5 hatched a week apart that were eventually co mothered then one duck took over the lot) and they were all in seemingly perfect health last night. i went out early this morning and am not sure if he was with the others when i left, and only seen 7 together when i got hme - but saw one and i thought probably the other outside so assumed that all 9 were fine.
anyway, apart from the obvious upset of one of my babies dying, I am frustrated that i have NO IDEA what caused it, and therefore no idea how to try and prevent it happening again. as above the drake seemed to be in perfect health last night, at a guess id say he died late this afternoon before i got home. mostly because i had noticed and commented to myself that they seemed very freaked out when i got home and asked myself has something scared them while i was out. if it weren't for that I'd wonder if he died after i got home as his body had the appearance of a duck that has only been dead a few hrs
there are few things i did notice today that might be clues to what happened:
1: 2 of the surviving juvenilles from the 9 have a limp. i caught one and couldnt find a reason, no cuts/abrasions, no bumblefoot, no swelling around joints, no heat in the leg or joint etc, limping was distinctly one leg, and didnt seem like niacin deficiency. the duckling was not limping yesterday. i didn't catch the other one but from visible observation it seemed the same and again was not limping yesterday
2: The dead drake had no injury but i did notice that around the outside edge of his wings he had some short feathers almost as if the area had been worn down. i cant think what would have caused that. all 9 juveniles have been fed and observed daily and were all perfectly mobile and seemingly energetic and healthy yesterday. the only reason i can think of for wing feathers wearing like that is a duck with mobility issues who is wing walking etc and i know for a fact this duckling wasn't, unless he did a helluva lot of wing walking kin the hrs prior to his death today while i was out
3: the unusually fearful behavior of the rest of the flock and their obvious avoidance of the area where the dead duckling was. a few weeks ago an older duck of mine died quietly in her sleep close to that spot and the flock did NOT react like they have been today. i also found another young duck dead a couple of months ago it looked like he might have accidentally eaten rat bait (I make sure the bait is very secure but rats will get it off wire and then remove from bait stations so maybe he found a bit a rat dropped returning to its burrow or maybe he found a dead rat somewhere, i am not sure) anyway again with that drake the flock were not freaked out like they were today. on one side i wonder if that was related as that was also a juvie drake in good weight and had been seemingly healthy and energetic the day before and had no signs of injury or illness, but unlike the one i found today he did have what looked to be dark possibly tarry bloody stools nearby which is why i suspect rat bait or a poisoned rat
anyway the fact that the flock are clearly freaked out by this dead duck, makes me wonder if his death was more violent than the duck who died in her sleep or the other drake who might have been poisoned, like maybe he had seizures that scared the flock, or maybe there was a predator though there are NO signs of injury.... it might also just be because all the flock were locked inside their (large 600 sq m) enclosure during the day today rather than free ranging so would have been closer to this poor wee lad when whatever happened happened
finally i have a neighbor who has been behaving strangely lately - i think she has some sort of anger related issues, anyway after suddenly screaming and yelling at me out of the blue over something extremely minor that totally did not warrant her reaction, she did a day later threaten my ducks. this was a couple of weeks ago.
Her threat was after I told her one of her chickens (she has only had chickens a few months and has no experience or knowledge of them) had very bad scaly mite and offered to put some ivermecton on it if she brought it over. She told me she was 'waiting for the chicken to die as it was old' and got quite aggressive and abusive and I eventually told her to treat it or id call the spca, and she responded that if i did that to 'see what would happen to my ducks'.
I haven't called the spca on her(much as id like to for the sake of the poor chicken), and was initially concerned for the safety of my ducks but aside from that threat have no reason to think she has done anything to my ducks
anyway hoping someone can give me some ideas as to what might have caused my wee drake to die out of the blue, and whether the sore legs in two of his siblings might be related?
or anything i could look out for if i attempt a home necropsy tomorrow to try and figure out what happened.
i am in new zealand and there are no state facilities that will do free necropsies and i cant afford to pay a vet hundreds probably thousands for one - would rather keep my limited funds for any vet emergencies on ducks still living... so having a go myself is the only option.
if there is anything anyone thinks from experience i should look at in particular, or anything else i can do to try and get some idea of what killed this drake id really appreciate the advice. i HATE it when a bird dies and i dont know why, i feel really guilty, and on top of that feel that i have no way to keep the rest of my large flock safe from the same thing if i don't know what it is
other info
the enclosure is about 600m sq with 5=6 ft high walls, which have wire which is loose enough that a cat cant climb over. dogs also cant get in, half the enclosure, incl the area i found him in is covered with bird netting which keeps hawks out (plus no injury that i could see and i did part the feathers and down pretty thoroughly in lots of places)
And here we don't have badgers, wolves, coyotes foxes, squirrels, snakes, big cats, and lots of other predators u have in the northern hemisphere....
anyone have any ideas on what might have caused it? given age, condition when found, and behaviour of the rest of the flock....?
In brief:
8 week domestic drake, found dead, no sign of illness or injury in good weight, last seen in apparently good health, energetic, eating well, normal everything, 2 siblings have suddenly started limping at same time no obviuos cause of lameness. entire flock clearly disturbed when i got home today and unusually frightened of me and of location where i found dead drake:
In detail:
Today I was out most of the day and came home late afternoon. I noticed when feeding my flock an hr or so later that they all seemed awfully jumpy, for example getting a fright whenever i had anything in my hand. Normally if i have something big or flappy like a towel or sheet that freaks them out but even when walking toward them mid feed with afresh bag of pellets scared them (and my ducks KNOW the pellet feed bags/sacks and normally me holding one is the same as a large neon sign saying FOOD HERE
Through the evening they were much more nervous than usual and i couldn't see a reason why. finally late at night i walked around the pond area as they were all freaked out and sitting on the pond constantly, so i walked around looking to see if a cat was outside the enclosure etc.
and then on the side of the pond they were all avoiding I found one of my juvenille ducks/ducklings dead. he was a drake about 8 weeks old, good body weight, no sign of injury, no discharge from vent, nares etc. he was one of 9(actually 2 clutches one of 4 one of 5 hatched a week apart that were eventually co mothered then one duck took over the lot) and they were all in seemingly perfect health last night. i went out early this morning and am not sure if he was with the others when i left, and only seen 7 together when i got hme - but saw one and i thought probably the other outside so assumed that all 9 were fine.
anyway, apart from the obvious upset of one of my babies dying, I am frustrated that i have NO IDEA what caused it, and therefore no idea how to try and prevent it happening again. as above the drake seemed to be in perfect health last night, at a guess id say he died late this afternoon before i got home. mostly because i had noticed and commented to myself that they seemed very freaked out when i got home and asked myself has something scared them while i was out. if it weren't for that I'd wonder if he died after i got home as his body had the appearance of a duck that has only been dead a few hrs
there are few things i did notice today that might be clues to what happened:
1: 2 of the surviving juvenilles from the 9 have a limp. i caught one and couldnt find a reason, no cuts/abrasions, no bumblefoot, no swelling around joints, no heat in the leg or joint etc, limping was distinctly one leg, and didnt seem like niacin deficiency. the duckling was not limping yesterday. i didn't catch the other one but from visible observation it seemed the same and again was not limping yesterday
2: The dead drake had no injury but i did notice that around the outside edge of his wings he had some short feathers almost as if the area had been worn down. i cant think what would have caused that. all 9 juveniles have been fed and observed daily and were all perfectly mobile and seemingly energetic and healthy yesterday. the only reason i can think of for wing feathers wearing like that is a duck with mobility issues who is wing walking etc and i know for a fact this duckling wasn't, unless he did a helluva lot of wing walking kin the hrs prior to his death today while i was out
3: the unusually fearful behavior of the rest of the flock and their obvious avoidance of the area where the dead duckling was. a few weeks ago an older duck of mine died quietly in her sleep close to that spot and the flock did NOT react like they have been today. i also found another young duck dead a couple of months ago it looked like he might have accidentally eaten rat bait (I make sure the bait is very secure but rats will get it off wire and then remove from bait stations so maybe he found a bit a rat dropped returning to its burrow or maybe he found a dead rat somewhere, i am not sure) anyway again with that drake the flock were not freaked out like they were today. on one side i wonder if that was related as that was also a juvie drake in good weight and had been seemingly healthy and energetic the day before and had no signs of injury or illness, but unlike the one i found today he did have what looked to be dark possibly tarry bloody stools nearby which is why i suspect rat bait or a poisoned rat
anyway the fact that the flock are clearly freaked out by this dead duck, makes me wonder if his death was more violent than the duck who died in her sleep or the other drake who might have been poisoned, like maybe he had seizures that scared the flock, or maybe there was a predator though there are NO signs of injury.... it might also just be because all the flock were locked inside their (large 600 sq m) enclosure during the day today rather than free ranging so would have been closer to this poor wee lad when whatever happened happened
finally i have a neighbor who has been behaving strangely lately - i think she has some sort of anger related issues, anyway after suddenly screaming and yelling at me out of the blue over something extremely minor that totally did not warrant her reaction, she did a day later threaten my ducks. this was a couple of weeks ago.
Her threat was after I told her one of her chickens (she has only had chickens a few months and has no experience or knowledge of them) had very bad scaly mite and offered to put some ivermecton on it if she brought it over. She told me she was 'waiting for the chicken to die as it was old' and got quite aggressive and abusive and I eventually told her to treat it or id call the spca, and she responded that if i did that to 'see what would happen to my ducks'.
I haven't called the spca on her(much as id like to for the sake of the poor chicken), and was initially concerned for the safety of my ducks but aside from that threat have no reason to think she has done anything to my ducks
anyway hoping someone can give me some ideas as to what might have caused my wee drake to die out of the blue, and whether the sore legs in two of his siblings might be related?
or anything i could look out for if i attempt a home necropsy tomorrow to try and figure out what happened.
i am in new zealand and there are no state facilities that will do free necropsies and i cant afford to pay a vet hundreds probably thousands for one - would rather keep my limited funds for any vet emergencies on ducks still living... so having a go myself is the only option.
if there is anything anyone thinks from experience i should look at in particular, or anything else i can do to try and get some idea of what killed this drake id really appreciate the advice. i HATE it when a bird dies and i dont know why, i feel really guilty, and on top of that feel that i have no way to keep the rest of my large flock safe from the same thing if i don't know what it is
other info
the enclosure is about 600m sq with 5=6 ft high walls, which have wire which is loose enough that a cat cant climb over. dogs also cant get in, half the enclosure, incl the area i found him in is covered with bird netting which keeps hawks out (plus no injury that i could see and i did part the feathers and down pretty thoroughly in lots of places)
And here we don't have badgers, wolves, coyotes foxes, squirrels, snakes, big cats, and lots of other predators u have in the northern hemisphere....
anyone have any ideas on what might have caused it? given age, condition when found, and behaviour of the rest of the flock....?
