This is a Fawn and White Runner from Metzer... 10 days of age.
History:
Received 11 ducks in the mail, one extra was a F&W. One of them died overnight (Cayuga I believe). Since then, everyone has been growing like a weed. At day 8 (of age)... 2 days ago. We noticed that one of the F&W was being less active, floated in the tub when the others bathed, but generally didn't try to scuba/dive and just floated. That evening, we started to notice that she was always sleeping. She would hop up when the rest perked up and ran around, but the most she would do was walk - never run with the rest.
At day 9, she was noticeably smaller and started having trouble standing/walking occasionally. I started hand feeding her as she was not competing for the food at the feeder (and showed no inclination to drink). I can still get her to nibble at food in my hand or drink a tiny bit if I dip the tip of her beak in the water. She started receiving vitamins in her water (as well as on occasion corn meal/mushed cheerios just for more energy. Overnight, I got up every 3 hours, picked her up and had her eat some from my hand. By morning (this morning) she is perkier, but still only just walks a bit and then plops back down. Often, she is not resting with the other ducks, but apart from them (I think they move and she just stays put). She never stops calling for the other ducks though - she peeps non-stop even when they are near.
I noticed, as I stayed to work from home today to tend to her, that she goes into what I would describe as seizures. Her head goes every which way, like she's fighting to control it but cannot, she totally loses her balance and topples or falls over, and when it passes, she just lies still looking mostly dead. Then, if interacted with, she perks back up and acts as if nothing occurred. She is exhausted though - she falls asleep non-stop. I just took the whole flock out to the yard, put them into a dog crate with access to the grass - all of them (minus her) went nuts picking at the grass, making holes, playing around and drinking from the bowl I put out with them in the sun. She plopped and only moved when the others stepped on her. I recorded some video clips, that I linked below showing her seizure-like/convulsive behavior...
This first one shows her having a seizure - this is average and it occurs 2-4 times per hour near as I can tell:
This second one shows her relative activity level and size compared to her cohort (same aged ducks, 2 other healthy F&W runners):
Does anyone have any idea what this could be?
Can she be saved when she shows no inclination to eat/drink on her own?
Has anyone seen this before in ducklings? Experiences with it?
History:
Received 11 ducks in the mail, one extra was a F&W. One of them died overnight (Cayuga I believe). Since then, everyone has been growing like a weed. At day 8 (of age)... 2 days ago. We noticed that one of the F&W was being less active, floated in the tub when the others bathed, but generally didn't try to scuba/dive and just floated. That evening, we started to notice that she was always sleeping. She would hop up when the rest perked up and ran around, but the most she would do was walk - never run with the rest.
At day 9, she was noticeably smaller and started having trouble standing/walking occasionally. I started hand feeding her as she was not competing for the food at the feeder (and showed no inclination to drink). I can still get her to nibble at food in my hand or drink a tiny bit if I dip the tip of her beak in the water. She started receiving vitamins in her water (as well as on occasion corn meal/mushed cheerios just for more energy. Overnight, I got up every 3 hours, picked her up and had her eat some from my hand. By morning (this morning) she is perkier, but still only just walks a bit and then plops back down. Often, she is not resting with the other ducks, but apart from them (I think they move and she just stays put). She never stops calling for the other ducks though - she peeps non-stop even when they are near.
I noticed, as I stayed to work from home today to tend to her, that she goes into what I would describe as seizures. Her head goes every which way, like she's fighting to control it but cannot, she totally loses her balance and topples or falls over, and when it passes, she just lies still looking mostly dead. Then, if interacted with, she perks back up and acts as if nothing occurred. She is exhausted though - she falls asleep non-stop. I just took the whole flock out to the yard, put them into a dog crate with access to the grass - all of them (minus her) went nuts picking at the grass, making holes, playing around and drinking from the bowl I put out with them in the sun. She plopped and only moved when the others stepped on her. I recorded some video clips, that I linked below showing her seizure-like/convulsive behavior...
This first one shows her having a seizure - this is average and it occurs 2-4 times per hour near as I can tell:
This second one shows her relative activity level and size compared to her cohort (same aged ducks, 2 other healthy F&W runners):
Does anyone have any idea what this could be?
Can she be saved when she shows no inclination to eat/drink on her own?
Has anyone seen this before in ducklings? Experiences with it?
