my duckling died randomly

[jay - animal lover]

hello! my duckling recently passed away, and a few days ago her sister also passed away along with their older sibling. in total, we had 5 ducks, and now we only have 2.

the older ducks are pretty older, theyre 3/4ish months old, and the little ones were about 2 months old. there is a heating lamp in there with them.

we have them set up inside a pretty wide enclosure, with access to food and water. i sit outside with them and let them out for about 2-3 hours, and i put the little ones back in there to warm up after them being out there for about 10-15 minutes. i would let them warm up and then let them out for another 10-15 minutes, until the older ones were finished. while they were warming up, they also had access to food and water.

one of the little ones one day was acting very lethargic, so i made her drink water. she was drinking water and eating food just fine, and started quacking again so i wasn't worried. as i was putting the older ones back in, one of them immediately started flopping. when i checked her crop, as well as making sure she was breathing on her own, i confirmed she wasnt choking and wasnt sure why she was flopping. i massaged her crop anyways, massaged her neck as well, and nothing came out, and she was still breathing. she died within minutes, and after i had noticed she scraped her leg on something, but it wasnt even deep enough to bleed or scab, so i wasnt sure if that was related or not. i have no idea why she died, as she was acting fine and even swimming with her siblings. she walked into the enclosure just fine, and i was checking on the other chickens for about 5 minutes before i did a final check and noticed her flopping. does anyone know what couldve caused this? was she choking and i just couldnt get it out? like i said, her crop felt normal and she was quacking and breathing on her own.

the next morning, the little one was dead. im not sure what happened to her whatsoever, i stayed until she was walking on her own and quacking with her siblings. could it have been a sickness? will this said sickness effect any other of the chickens or ducks?

and tonight, i went to check on the animals. i had already fed them and gave them water this morning, and the duckling was fine. but when i checked on her tonight, she was limp, but still alive. she wasnt breathing on her own, so i first checked her crop and made sure nothing was blocking her airway, and then preformed cpr as per normal. i unfortunately have done this before with other ducklings who had choked, and had saved them before, so i knew what i was doing. she was kicking her feet and moving her head slightly, but her eyes completely dilated and she eventually passed away in my arms.

im horrified and scared to think that this may be a sickness, or maybe even a spider possibly getting to them. does anyone have any ideas? for the time being, we have cleaned out the enclosure and replaced straw in there for them, as well as thoroughly clean out their containers. could mushrooms kill them? we noticed some in the play pen that they go out in a few days ago, and even though they never walked close to them, we cleaned them out for obvious reasons.

please help. im just scared this will happen to our other animals, and i would find a lot of comfort in knowing what happened. did we put them outside too early?

 

[Jenbirdee]

Im so sorry you lost 3 ducklings.Hopeful we can help you find out what is happening.
Yes I think the mushrooms can hurt them, good you got them out.
They are 2 months old so they do not need heat lamp, maybe they are overheating.
What is their diet?
Do you provide some grit in a side dish?
Is their water deep enough to dunk their head into?
Is the grass long in their outside area?

 

[jay - animal lover]

they’re just pretty small still, so i assumed they would need a heat lamp, but that is a good point. they really could be, we will take the heat lamp out!

we do provide grit in a side dish for them, the water that they have in their enclosure isnt able for them to dunk their heads in, but the water outside their enclosure does. the grass is very short where they go, not much grows in their area due to our previous animals absolutely destroying it.

thank you for your reply!

 

[Jenbirdee]

also
what’s the temperature outside where you live
and what temperature do you have them at where you have the heat lamp if it’s more than a 20° difference it shocks their system when they go from hot to cold and cold to hot

 

[jay - animal lover]

it gets cold in the mornings, about 40 degrees to 50 degrees, but for this past month we've had 60 degree weather when i would let them out. i dont let them out when its below 50. the temperature where the heating lamp is is about 70-75 degrees. i can assume thats enough to put them in shock though, as thats almost 20 degrees.

 

[Jenbirdee]

it gets cold in the mornings, about 40 degrees to 50 degrees, but for this past month we've had 60 degree weather when i would let them out. i dont let them out when its below 50. the temperature where the heating lamp is is about 70-75 degrees. i can assume thats enough to put them in shock though, as thats almost 20 degrees.

that could be it i heard about cattle that died from sudden temperature changes.
Apparently, you didn’t have this problem with your four month olds maybe because the weather was warmer a couple months ago.
I don’t think you said, what kind of feed you’re giving them?
And what color is their poop? Just wanted to check anything else that could be the problem Hopefully the others will continue to thrive.

 

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

hello! my duckling recently passed away, and a few days ago her sister also passed away along with their older sibling. in total, we had 5 ducks, and now we only have 2.

the older ducks are pretty older, theyre 3/4ish months old, and the little ones were about 2 months old. there is a heating lamp in there with them.

we have them set up inside a pretty wide enclosure, with access to food and water. i sit outside with them and let them out for about 2-3 hours, and i put the little ones back in there to warm up after them being out there for about 10-15 minutes. i would let them warm up and then let them out for another 10-15 minutes, until the older ones were finished. while they were warming up, they also had access to food and water.

one of the little ones one day was acting very lethargic, so i made her drink water. she was drinking water and eating food just fine, and started quacking again so i wasn't worried. as i was putting the older ones back in, one of them immediately started flopping. when i checked her crop, as well as making sure she was breathing on her own, i confirmed she wasnt choking and wasnt sure why she was flopping. i massaged her crop anyways, massaged her neck as well, and nothing came out, and she was still breathing. she died within minutes, and after i had noticed she scraped her leg on something, but it wasnt even deep enough to bleed or scab, so i wasnt sure if that was related or not. i have no idea why she died, as she was acting fine and even swimming with her siblings. she walked into the enclosure just fine, and i was checking on the other chickens for about 5 minutes before i did a final check and noticed her flopping. does anyone know what couldve caused this? was she choking and i just couldnt get it out? like i said, her crop felt normal and she was quacking and breathing on her own.

the next morning, the little one was dead. im not sure what happened to her whatsoever, i stayed until she was walking on her own and quacking with her siblings. could it have been a sickness? will this said sickness effect any other of the chickens or ducks?

and tonight, i went to check on the animals. i had already fed them and gave them water this morning, and the duckling was fine. but when i checked on her tonight, she was limp, but still alive. she wasnt breathing on her own, so i first checked her crop and made sure nothing was blocking her airway, and then preformed cpr as per normal. i unfortunately have done this before with other ducklings who had choked, and had saved them before, so i knew what i was doing. she was kicking her feet and moving her head slightly, but her eyes completely dilated and she eventually passed away in my arms.

im horrified and scared to think that this may be a sickness, or maybe even a spider possibly getting to them. does anyone have any ideas? for the time being, we have cleaned out the enclosure and replaced straw in there for them, as well as thoroughly clean out their containers. could mushrooms kill them? we noticed some in the play pen that they go out in a few days ago, and even though they never walked close to them, we cleaned them out for obvious reasons.

please help. im just scared this will happen to our other animals, and i would find a lot of comfort in knowing what happened. did we put them outside too early?

Oh this sure is sad! I'm so sorry! It sounds like either an illness or some kind of poisoning. It's unlikely that a venomous spider bit and killed all three of them. Do you still have any of those mushrooms around? Could you take photos and post them on your local online mushroom foraging group to get an identification? But you said that they never went near the mushrooms, so it's probably not that.

How are the other ducks today?

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

I'm not sure what it could be but...

 

[jay - animal lover]

hello all --

i figure for the younger ones, they unfortunately must've passed away from the quick climate changes that was happening. i try to forgive myself but it's a little hard since i was the one taking them out and putting them back in. the older ones didn't have an issue with this because prior to them being outside, they were inside growing up, with access to the heating lamp and no extreme climate changes. that's all i could chalk it up to as the rest of the ducks are fine, the chicks that are with them as well are all fine.

i'm unfortunately still not sure what happened with the older duck, and as her siblings are perfectly fine now and still doing the same routine -- i just have no idea.

thank you for all of your guys' advice and kind words. i appreciate it!

 

[Jenbirdee]

I am so sorry I have blame myself for ducky deaths in the past too and its so sad Im sorry