Help sick duck!

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duckydoos

duckydoos

Hatching
Sep 6, 2015
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I have 12 birds in total 6 ducks and 6 chickens they all live in the same pin and free range and they were all fine at first so then one of them started acting like it couldn't walk, a few days later it was better then a different duck started to do it and unfortunately hasn't recovered in a few weeks we thought she has antipestipher infection because she showed many of the signs so we put her on penicillin and she has gotten very slightly better but now she acts drunk bobs her head and can't balance she also can't quack what do we do? Does she even have this infection or is something else wrong?
 
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duckydoos said:
I have 12 birds in total 6 ducks and 6 chickens they all live in the same pin and free range and they were all fine at first so then one of them started acting like it couldn't walk, a few days later it was better then a different duck started to do it and unfortunately hasn't recovered in a few weeks we thought she has antipestipher infection because she showed many of the signs so we put her on penicillin and she has gotten very slightly better but now she acts drunk bobs her head and can't balance she also can't quack what do we do? Does she even have this infection or is something else wrong?
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Lets take this one step at a time. First, how old are the ducks? What have they been fed? What water arrangements do you have for them?
 
they are only a few months old not laying eggs yet. We feed them cracked corn with a mix of Dumor poultry grower/ finisher. We refill the ducks swimming pool 1-3 times a day and we also set out bowls of fresh water every few hours for the chickens mostly but the ducks drink from them too. recently since the duck has been sick we have been filling a gallon a water up and mixing in durvet vitamins and electrolytes for all classes of livestock and poultry and giving them that every couple hours especially the sick one since we thought it was a vitamin deficiency at first but even now she isn't getting better. she seems to be really struggling to balance and stay up we sometimes find her flipped over on her back. she doesn't seem to be in pain or I doubt she would move around as much as she does.
 
UPDATE: we stopped the penicillin shots as it doesn't seem to help and we are gonna wait a few days to see if she gets worst off of the shots. When she first became ill and was really bad her poop was almost clear and coming out very watery or green because she didn't eat much then she only drank and she became very thin. Recently in the past few days she has been pooping almost solid and we are hoping she isn't constipated but she has put back on the weight she lost and is eating like a champ but she stumbles to the food bowl. While she wasn't eating we fed her an occasional tomato so she wouldn't starve. I will post a video link on youtube of how she acts and the way she looks tomorrow. Also she isn't retaining oil on her feathers and she gets very muddy while picking around with the other ducks especially when it rains. We tried giving her baths to clean her up but she is so unbalanced and disoriented that she can't clean herself properly. Please help I would hate to put her down :(
 
There are also fungal infections - antibiotics don't work on those. Sometimes they have more than one thing going on. A good duck vet is best when it is possible.
 
When they were really young, only days and weeks old, I am guessing you fed the ducks the same feed you fed the chicks? That is fine, however it is no where near high enough in niacin for the ducks. If they did not get enough niacin while developing they may have developed a neurological problem and there may, now that they are several month old, may not be much that can be done. Continue the vitamins and electrolytes, they may help some. Also, if it did not manifest the same in all the ducks it could be something else like indicated by Amiga. And, her recommendation to stop the cracked corn is very important to follow. Cracked corn should be used as a treat and perhaps to supplement their diet in the winter when there is not much for them to forage on.
 
when they were very young we fed them the same brand Dumor but it was the chick feed grower not the adult finisher idk if that helps also she has and angel wing we didn't know what it was at first because we had never had a duck with that and we were too late to wrap it down to correct it and when she was young we would find small amounts of blood on her wing and on the other ducks and after observation we saw that the other ducks were picking at her angel wing and either broke or pulled a blood feather we put alcohol on the wound along with some neosporin but I wonder if that wound caused an infection? If it did what is suggested? Also if it is fungal what is the best way to treat it besides switching food?
 

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