My Indian Runner Ducks making Strange Sounds

[TinaandJohnny]

Hello,
I posted on here a while ago but didn’t have a video. Some people were telling me that they are just going through puberty. I have 2 Indian Runner Duck Drakes. They are about 3.5 months old, healthy diet, fresh clean water daily, warm bed every night. They recently started making these sounds, one of them started it first and then the other a couple days ago. I finally got a video and hopefully someone on here can explain to me what is going on? They are my first and only ducks. I will take them to the vet if I need to like I did before. They aren’t acting sick and are active. Someone please give me some insight!
Thanks!

 

[Isadora]

Oh, that's an odd noise. Never heard that before. They're both making it, or just the one in the back? I know you said they're both doing it but it does not sound like a normal noise to me.
Almost sounds like something is stuck in rhe windpipe.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Hello,
I posted on here a while ago but didn’t have a video. Some people were telling me that they are just going through puberty. I have 2 Indian Runner Duck Drakes. They are about 3.5 months old, healthy diet, fresh clean water daily, warm bed every night. They recently started making these sounds, one of them started it first and then the other a couple days ago. I finally got a video and hopefully someone on here can explain to me what is going on? They are my first and only ducks. I will take them to the vet if I need to like I did before. They aren’t acting sick and are active. Someone please give me some insight!
Thanks!

Whoa. Sounds like they have something stuck in their throats.

 

[Aunt Angus]

When one of my Calls used to stuff herself with crumbles, she would occasionally start coughing. Didn't sound anything like that, but I'd plunk her in the bathtub for a few minutes. She'd dunk her head, clear her nares, drink lots of water, and be fine afterward. Maybe try that?

I've never heard that, tbh.

 

[TinaandJohnny]

Oh, that's an odd noise. Never heard that before. They're both making it, or just the one in the back? I know you said they're both doing it but it does not sound like a normal noise to me.
Almost sounds like something is stuck in rhe windpipe.

They’re both making it now. One started 1.5 weeks ago about and the other one 2 days ago or so. I thought it would have been something in the windpipe also or something stuck. But now it’s both, and I’ve felt both their necks and they eat and breathe just fine. I’m trying hard not to be concerned but it’s such a bizarre sound.

 

[TinaandJohnny]

When one of my Calls used to stuff herself with crumbles, she would occasionally start coughing. Didn't sound anything like that, but I'd plunk her in the bathtub for a few minutes. She'd dunk her head, clear her nares, drink lots of water, and be fine afterward. Maybe try that?

I've never heard that, tbh.

I’ve tried the bathtub thing when the first one started doing it. And thought it might be eating too quickly without grabbing a drink but it kept happening and without any food around, out of the blue.

 

[Lauraduck]

It's a male making his mating call The first few times my Runner drake did that I thought it was very strange too. But then I realized he's just fluffing his feathers and calling out to ladies. Totally normal It's just what runner drakes do. I wonder if only Runners have that mating call.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I’ve tried the bathtub thing when the first one started doing it. And thought it might be eating too quickly without grabbing a drink but it kept happening and without any food around, out of the blue.

I am at a loss. Wish I had knowledge to share.

 

[Aunt Angus]

@Miss Lydia
@ruthhope
@HollowOfWisps
@Isaac 0

Ever heard this before???

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you for posting the video -- very helpful

I have no experience of my ducks making a noise like that. However, I notice the movement accompanying the strange sound. Two of my pekin drakes make that movement and come out with a belching sound. One drake is 18 months old and one is more like 12 months old [He was rescued at the beginning of April and was a juvenile then].

When my first drake started making the sound, people on this thread suggested he was adjusting his crop. It got to the stage where I firmly believed he just liked making the noise [and he still does.] A second pekin started a couple of months ago. Not as often as the first but then a year ago the first was only doing it occasionally. Ny third pekin and my son's pekin drake do not make the noise and neither do my muscovy drakes. The females don't do it either.

As your boys are otherwise healthy and eating normally, I would suspect that for whatever reason they started adjusting their crop and then found they like the noise. Or maybe they just like adjusting their crop. Your boys' whistle may be because they are call ducks whereas mine are pekins that belch!!

Certainly, while the ducks are healthy and eating normally, I would just wait and watch, I can't think of an intervention that would help