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Is my duck sick or just overweight?

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Number1Sticky

Number1Sticky

In the Brooder
9 Years
Jul 18, 2010
41
0
32
This is going to be hard to explain so please try to bear with me. Yesterday in the morning when I went out to feed me ducks I noticed there was something weird with one of my duck’s chest. It looks like it’s kind of caved in. Not the whole chest, it maybe goes about 2-3 inches, and not too deep either. Also for the past few weeks, her stomach area has gotten weird. I looks like she’s got this row of fat going down the entire length of her body on the bottom of her. It is also kind of squishy like fat would be. It’s also gotten bigger since the first time I saw it. I didn’t really think anything of it at first, but now that it’s gotten bigger it’s starting to worry me. It’s almost touching the ground.

Also she is acting totally normal.

I looks and feels to me like she’s overweight. But I just want to make sure.

Is she overweight and that’s why this is happening? Or is there something wrong with her? I have another duck (male) and he looks totally fine. That’s the other problem. If she’s just overweight how would I feed them? Because I think my male is getting enough food, so I don’t want to give underfeed him.

If anyone has pictures of an overweight duck that would be helpful for me to compare them.

Also she is about 19 weeks (about 4 ½ months) old so she could be laying an egg soon. Could that be the cause?

I’m going to post pictures of her. It’s hard to see because she’s black but you can at least see her stomach.

If anyone needs more information please ask me and I’ll answer as best I can.

Thank you everyone!!

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More pictures:
http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn99/num1sticky/Zurdoras Chest/
 
That's a porker keel belly. She has gotten a little bit to fat. Happened to one of my ducks too and I cut back on feed. She has lost it now, but the keel will stay as a skin flap without filling.
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She doens't mind, and has become more active since she has lost the weight.

Oh and it had no effect on the other ducks, they did not loose weight. She was just a happy eater. An egg belly does not hang like that nor is it wobbly.
 
Last edited:
Just thought I'd give everyone an update. Today when I went out to feed my ducks I noticed my male has got the same chest and stomach as my female now. So apparently I'm feeding them way too much.
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Right now they get 1 cup of food in the morning and 1 cup at night (not each-total), so I'm going to try 3/4 cup each time and see what happens and if that doesn't work they're only going to get 1 cup a day total.

It does comfort me to know that there is nothing wrong with my female. At least nothing that can't be fixed easily.

Thank you everyone for your help!!!
 
They should get around 1/3 of a pound per bird per day. Quite honest I don't weigh my food, but I have a plastic cup with handle and I count how many I fill into the bowls. I had to reduce it by 2 when I noticed that my duck became a porker.
 
Quote:
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We call ours fatty and gorda. The irony is her name is Little Bit and she weighs 11 lbs. She has slimmed down a bit by cutting back on feed but she eats all the fruit and nuts that falls off our trees so it is hard to put her on a diet. We do have the neighbor kid come over and play with her so she gets exercise during the day while we are at work.
 
Quote:
That caved in place on her chest is the breast bone. They usually pack in meat on both sides of it but not diredtly over the bone which makes it appear to be caved in. The belly is usually called a paunch on big meat ducks it often will drag on the ground. once it has developed it is pretty much there for life. You can cut back the feed so the paunch is mostly empty and it will sway back and forth as it walks. Normally in the wild this will be packed when they start migration but empty when they arrive, a big fuel tank for a long trip.
 

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