3 week old duckling breathing with mouth open.

[Ladyblue114]

I have a 3 week old Rouen Mallard duckling. She has been totally fine and spoiled. Today we brought home two more ducklings from TSC to give her some company. All she wanted to do was sit in my lap. They swam around together for a bit and then I separated them. I did this for a timely integration and to make sure the new littles don’t have any illnesses they could pass on to my Pip. By this evening Pip (the 3 week old) started breathing with mouth open. I was concerned she may have been a little stressed so I put her in the tub and let her do her thing. A lot of head dunking but everything else is normal. She lets me know when she wants out and usually goes in her little condo with no problem. But she is constantly breathing with her beak open and the beak and feet are hotter than usual, AND she only wants to be in my lap (did I mention spoiled?). My questions are 1: could this be the reaction of stress itself with the introduction of the newbies? Or 2: could she have picked up something from them in a warp speed time frame? Thanks in advance.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I have a 3 week old Rouen Mallard duckling. She has been totally fine and spoiled. Today we brought home two more ducklings from TSC to give her some company. All she wanted to do was sit in my lap. They swam around together for a bit and then I separated them. I did this for a timely integration and to make sure the new littles don’t have any illnesses they could pass on to my Pip. By this evening Pip (the 3 week old) started breathing with mouth open. I was concerned she may have been a little stressed so I put her in the tub and let her do her thing. A lot of head dunking but everything else is normal. She lets me know when she wants out and usually goes in her little condo with no problem. But she is constantly breathing with her beak open and the beak and feet are hotter than usual, AND she only wants to be in my lap (did I mention spoiled?). My questions are 1: could this be the reaction of stress itself with the introduction of the newbies? Or 2: could she have picked up something from them in a warp speed time frame? Thanks in advance.

Did she breathe like that while in the tub or at any other times when she is not cuddling with you or under a heat lamp? She looks like she's too hot.

 

[Quatie]

Sounds like she is panting and may just be hot. Are you still using a heat source? If you are, I would turn off the heat source and run a fan over them. You can also put the duckling in a luke warm bath to help cool it off. Hopefully that is all it is.