Is my duck sick??

[nelleyoukai]

Her right eye is foamy and she sounds hoarse, like she's loosing her voice when she quacks, I don't know if it matters but she keeps fluffing up her feathers too which she doesn't usually do.
I'm unable to take her to the vet until Wednesday as I don't get paid until then, but is there anything I can do for her? Has anyone had this happen before??

 

[Orca5094]

How old is she? Can you post a pic?

Does she have water deep enough for her to wash her face/eyes in at all times? Ducks need to be able to wash their faces and clear out their nares at all times, otherwise they can get eye infections or food stuck in their nares, which can then cause respiratory issues. You can flush the eye out with a home-made saline solution (there are many recipes for it online, very easy to make) to get whatever is irritating her eye out of there. That most often clears up foamy eyes. Many others suggest adding some apple cider vinegar to their water to help clear up these issues, but I have no experience using that myself.

 

[nelleyoukai]

I can't post a pic at the moment as its dark out but I'll get one in the morning first thing. She's roughly 8/9 months old, and she has 3 buckets outside in the yard plus her paddle pool and she has another bucket of water inside the coop so there's plenty of water for her to wash her face in..
I'm really worried about her losing her voice, would that be a sign of a respiratory problem?
I haven't heard her sneeze or cough or anything though, so maybe I'm getting whatever it is (hopefully) early?
I'll have a look online for a saline wash and make that in the morning, and pop some apple cider vinegar in the water just to be safe aha. I really hope she's going to be okay..

 

[Orca5094]

Ok, definitely not due to not having enough water to wash up in then. Definitely rinse that eye out as soon as you can (2-3 times a day is good) and see if that clears up that issue. Mine will get a foamy eye sometimes when they get something in there, we have alot of nettles around our property so I think that's what causes it. I just flush the eye with saline solution a couple of times and it's back to normal.

It certainly could be a respiratory infection, but hard to tell without seeing her myself. No discharge from the nares? It's a good sign she isn't coughing or sneezing at least.

When you say she has started fluffling up her feathers, does she stand/sit with them fluffed up like she doesn't feel well, or does she just do it when she makes the weird quacks? I just ask because broody ducks will fluff up their feathers and make different quacks and noises than usual towards people and other ducks.

 

[Amiga]

Is she your only duck? Is there a drake? This is Romy when broody.

 

[nelleyoukai]

We do have a drake and she's sounding just like your Romy, but shes not preening like that, she just sort of makes herself look like a puff ball, like when they get out of the water and they fluff up?
It's really hard to explain haha sorry, sometimes shes just standing there fluffed up and then she goes all sleek again, and sometimes its while shes quacking, could she just be cold maybe?
Also her eye was fine this morning, I'm assuming she must have gotten some sand or something in her eye?
She's got a nest of 14 eggs at the moment (was meant to be 15 but we cracked one to see if it was fertile- it was) and I think she is trying to go broody but she's still laying, and only sits at night and part of the morning- basically until i open the door to let her out. I dont know how long I should leave the eggs in the nest for before they go bad though.. Or if I should separate the drake from her at night or how to do any of this duck hatching stuff lol.. I'm virtually clueless at this as its my first time with ducks haha. Actually it's her first time too!

 

[nelleyoukai]

You know what, I just went outside and couldn't find her, checked the nest and Lo and behold, she's sitting.
Now I hope she just stays there haha..

 

[Miss Lydia]

You know what, I just went outside and couldn't find her, checked the nest and Lo and behold, she's sitting.
Now I hope she just stays there haha..

I'd say she is serious with a nest like that one. Leave the drake with her till hatch. When hatch starts make a fenced space for her and ducklings where he can see everyone and ducklings can't get through the fencing. Leave mom and ducklings like that till at least 2-3 weeks old then begin to start letting mom and babies out with your supervision to see how dad acts. Some drakes are okay with ducklings some will injure and kill. Remember Muscovy's take 35-37 days for hatching.