2 month old duck breathing heavily, coughing, and is non-verbal

[tayae]

One of my six ducklings started coughing about two weeks ago but I put it off as him not getting enough water and just choking down his food. But today he has started to breathe very rapidly and heavily and I'm concerned. I also noticed he is pretty non-verbal and unable to make loud noises, just little squeaks. This is unusual of him as when I usually pick him up he screams in complaint. He also doesn't try to squirm out of my lap as much as he usually does, he just kind of gives up.

I have separated him from the others (where he can still see his siblings) and started him on Duramycin 10. What else can I be doing? Any ideas of what could be wrong?

 

[Amiga]

If you can, get to a vet. But if that is not a possibility, you are making a good effort toward helping.

There is a possibility it is a fungal infection, in which case the Duramycin won't help. But keep giving it, see if it does improve things.

He may also have parasites, perhaps gape worm. See if you can look into that - then some kind of worm medicine would be needed.

Those are my first thoughts.

 

[tayae]

If you can, get to a vet. But if that is not a possibility, you are making a good effort toward helping.

There is a possibility it is a fungal infection, in which case the Duramycin won't help. But keep giving it, see if it does improve things.

He may also have parasites, perhaps gape worm. See if you can look into that - then some kind of worm medicine would be needed.

Those are my first thoughts.

If it does turn out to be a fungal infection or gape worm, do you know how I should be treating those things? I've searched really hard but can't find much info. Unfortunately there are no local vets that see birds, but if he gets bad enough maybe I'll have to take a trip!

He seems slightly lethargic tonight but maybe he is just bored without his siblings.

 

[Amiga]

There are anti fungal medications - I will look up a resource for that - at least it describes the treatment.

And for gapeworms, there are worming medications that can be found at feed stores - a search in the archives here will turn up the recommended material - and perhaps someone who has done this can check in.

One story of aspergillus treatment http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/mmissue121.htm

Might want to verify with @casportpony that this works for ducks the same as for chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/962648/gapeworm

But it is probably more likely the little one has a respiratory problem. Poor ducky.

 

[Yukon]

Please keep us updated with the latest regarding your duck.

 

[tayae]

Thank you for the info @Amiga , I'm gonna continue giving him the antibiotics for a while and see if he improves. Doing that makes me scared he has gapeworm and I won't catch it in time, but hopefully I'm making the right call.

He's doing okay right now, his only symptom currently is the constant heavy/rapid breathing. No runny nose or eyes or anything.

He was very shaken up last night when it was dark and he was in a pen by himself, so I'm letting him sleep with his siblings at night to keep him a little more sane. Is that a bad choice? Should I be quarantining him?

Really hoping he'll pull through this! At least he hasn't gotten worse.

 

[Amiga]

It is a balancing act - if we treat for the wrong thing we have lost time. If we keep them separated when it is obviously stressful, we may set them back.

I think you are making the best calls you can make, and since I am not there, I will trust you to sense what is best.

What is the temperature where the little one is? Could he just be a little too warm?

 

[tayae]

It's been a solid 80 degrees for most of the week, and he has endured a lot hotter, and the other ducklings/their parents seem to be cool enough... So unfortunately I don't think it could be the heat. I wish it was that simple!

Thanks for all your help

We'll see how the antibiotics effect him and switch to a different treatment if he doesn't improve.

 

[tayae]

How much water should a two month old duck be drinking every day? When he's separated from the others for the day I give him a gallon of water with his medicine in it. He only drinks about 1/4 of it and that makes me worry he isn't hydrating enough (or getting enough medicine!)

 

[Amiga]

Hmm, a quart of water - that's about 2 pounds of water. At two months, that's more than half his weight. I don't have a quick chart or reference for this.

@casportpony do you have any sources for how much water is healthy?