5 week ducklings fallen ill!

[Stacey Adele]

Good morning, I am new here. Just beginning our adventure of raising backyard chickens and ducks. It has been a lot of work so far, and so much fun! We brought home 3 duckling hatchlings in April, and incubated 2 dozen chicken eggs, 19 of which hatched 2 weeks ago. Chicks seems to be thriving (although I'm becoming worried they could catch illness from the ducklings). My main concern is our smallest ducklings has recently had a massive drop in energy/activity levels, has diarrhea (green), and today started sneezing. I thought the reduced activity might be due to niacin deficiency, so yesterday I held her a lot offered a lot of water with brewer's yeast, and then today I read about sour crop, so now I'm stressed and confused. However, due to the sneezing (and no obvious crop issues either), and now another duck has brown diarrhea, I think it's an infection. I don't know how they could have caught anything though, being exposed only to each other for 5 weeks! Although, we have allowed them to roam the yard for the last couple of weeks, so maybe something from the soil? We live on a river, fed also by a stream on our property, so I am wondering about giardia. I read about Fish-zole, or Aqua-zole, so I came on here to ask if anyone can offer more details about that. I am also wondering how effective oregeno is, and whether to sprinkle it on food or water. I'd also love to obtain an OTC antibiotic of some sort, as a general cure all, because the sneezing makes me think it's not giardia (though, I haven't witnessed this on-going, just noticed this morning), so if anyone has knowledge about how to get that, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!!!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

here is what I found about fish-zole
https://homelabvet.com/product/metronidazole-tablets/

could you possibly take in a fecal sample to your vet and have them verify if it is giardia? They can also give meds in case of respiratory infection. There are places online that sell antibiotics
https://allbirdproducts.com/products/baytril-10 also.
I use Oregano in my flocks feed daily as a preventive. I use dry and mix it in. But if you suspect an illness then I would go with a antibiotic from a vet. Or from an online pharmacy.
Sneezing can be from dusty feed, or bedding.
Any discharge from eyes or nares?

 

[ruthhope]

Good morning, I am new here. Just beginning our adventure of raising backyard chickens and ducks. It has been a lot of work so far, and so much fun! We brought home 3 duckling hatchlings in April, and incubated 2 dozen chicken eggs, 19 of which hatched 2 weeks ago. Chicks seems to be thriving (although I'm becoming worried they could catch illness from the ducklings). My main concern is our smallest ducklings has recently had a massive drop in energy/activity levels, has diarrhea (green), and today started sneezing. I thought the reduced activity might be due to niacin deficiency, so yesterday I held her a lot offered a lot of water with brewer's yeast, and then today I read about sour crop, so now I'm stressed and confused. However, due to the sneezing (and no obvious crop issues either), and now another duck has brown diarrhea, I think it's an infection. I don't know how they could have caught anything though, being exposed only to each other for 5 weeks! Although, we have allowed them to roam the yard for the last couple of weeks, so maybe something from the soil? We live on a river, fed also by a stream on our property, so I am wondering about giardia. I read about Fish-zole, or Aqua-zole, so I came on here to ask if anyone can offer more details about that. I am also wondering how effective oregeno is, and whether to sprinkle it on food or water. I'd also love to obtain an OTC antibiotic of some sort, as a general cure all, because the sneezing makes me think it's not giardia (though, I haven't witnessed this on-going, just noticed this morning), so if anyone has knowledge about how to get that, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!!!!

What are you feeding the ducklings? Are you using the same starter crumbles as your chickens? Are they pekins?
I doubt your ducklings have guardia. I certainly wouldn't treat for that without stool testing. Green stool is more likely from what the ducklings are earing. Are you adding chopped kale to their diet? Are they eating weeds?

I suspect your ducklings need more niacin than they are getting. Chicken starter crumbles do not contain enough niacin for any ducks as they grow faster than chicks but pekins are particularly susceptible to inadequate niacin.

I would get hold of Durvet High Level Vit B Complex as soon as possible and give the weak duckling 1ml vit B complex soaked into a few dried mealworms every day. Stay with the weak duckling until it has eaten it's 1ml of vit b complex each day. Also, with urgency, add nutritional yeast ( one tablespoon to each cup of thr crumbles ) to the feed of all the ducklings . If you have female pekins, I would feed them nutritional yeast supplement to their food for the duration of their egg laying. If you have other mallard derived ducklings feed them until they are on duck pellets at about 3 weeks old.. If you have muscovy ducklings, they too need nutritional yeast until you have them on duck pellet. I add brewers yeast to muscovy drakes pellets until they are fully grown which may be as long as 12 weeks. Brewers yeast does not have as much niacin as nutritional yeast but is much cheaper.

Please keep us updated on your duckling's progress.

 

[Stacey Adele]

What are you feeding the ducklings? Are you using the same starter crumbles as your chickens? Are they pekins?
I doubt your ducklings have guardia. I certainly wouldn't treat for that without stool testing. Green stool is more likely from what the ducklings are earing. Are you adding chopped kale to their diet? Are they eating weeds?

I suspect your ducklings need more niacin than they are getting. Chicken starter crumbles do not contain enough niacin for any ducks as they grow faster than chicks but pekins are particularly susceptible to inadequate niacin.

I would get hold of Durvet High Level Vit B Complex as soon as possible and give the weak duckling 1ml vit B complex soaked into a few dried mealworms every day. Stay with the weak duckling until it has eaten it's 1ml of vit b complex each day. Also, with urgency, add nutritional yeast ( one tablespoon to each cup of thr crumbles ) to the feed of all the ducklings . If you have female pekins, I would feed them nutritional yeast supplement to their food for the duration of their egg laying. If you have other mallard derived ducklings feed them until they are on duck pellets at about 3 weeks old.. If you have muscovy ducklings, they too need nutritional yeast until you have them on duck pellet. I add brewers yeast to muscovy drakes pellets until they are fully grown which may be as long as 12 weeks. Brewers yeast does not have as much niacin as nutritional yeast but is much cheaper.

Please keep us updated on your duckling's progress.

Hi Ruth, thank you for your reply! Our first thought was Vit B deficiency too, but now I'm not so sure... it's seems like more of a contagious thing. We have been giving them Brewer's Yeast all along, since they are on starter chick crumble. They do eat plenty of grass/weeds since they were free-ranging quite a bit around our yard. They are BYM ducks, with possibly some Pekin mixed in for 2 of the 3, but I'm not sure. I looked yesterday at the people pharmacy for Niacin, or any complete Bcomplex liquid supplement, but they didn't have it. I will look at our local Peavey Mart today. Thank you!

 

[Stacey Adele]

here is what I found about fish-zole
https://homelabvet.com/product/metronidazole-tablets/

could you possibly take in a fecal sample to your vet and have them verify if it is giardia? They can also give meds in case of respiratory infection. There are places online that sell antibiotics
https://allbirdproducts.com/products/baytril-10 also.
I use Oregano in my flocks feed daily as a preventive. I use dry and mix it in. But if you suspect an illness then I would go with a antibiotic from a vet. Or from an online pharmacy.
Sneezing can be from dusty feed, or bedding.
Any discharge from eyes or nares?

Hi Lydia, thank you for your reply and the info! No discharge from eyes or nares. Sneezing doesn't seem to be repetitive. Bedding is aspen shavings. We don't currently have a vet. I will message the person we go the ducklings from and ask if she has someone.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Many feed stores carry the liquid BComplex it will say injectable but we use it orally.Here is info
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

 

[ruthhope]

Hi Ruth, thank you for your reply! Our first thought was Vit B deficiency too, but now I'm not so sure... it's seems like more of a contagious thing. We have been giving them Brewer's Yeast all along, since they are on starter chick crumble. They do eat plenty of grass/weeds since they were free-ranging quite a bit around our yard. They are BYM ducks, with possibly some Pekin mixed in for 2 of the 3, but I'm not sure. I looked yesterday at the people pharmacy for Niacin, or any complete Bcomplex liquid supplement, but they didn't have it. I will look at our local Peavey Mart today. Thank you!

Brewers yeast should be enough for your ducklings. I wonder if they ate something toxic while foraging. If you cannot get to a vet, I would keep them inside the coup/run rather than let them free range and continue supportable care (electrolytes and encouraging them to eat with nutritious treats -- peas, mealworms, chopped kale etc)

Pls keep us updated

 

[Stacey Adele]

Good morning, I am new here. Just beginning our adventure of raising backyard chickens and ducks. It has been a lot of work so far, and so much fun! We brought home 3 duckling hatchlings in April, and incubated 2 dozen chicken eggs, 19 of which hatched 2 weeks ago. Chicks seems to be thriving (although I'm becoming worried they could catch illness from the ducklings). My main concern is our smallest ducklings has recently had a massive drop in energy/activity levels, has diarrhea (green), and today started sneezing. I thought the reduced activity might be due to niacin deficiency, so yesterday I held her a lot offered a lot of water with brewer's yeast, and then today I read about sour crop, so now I'm stressed and confused. However, due to the sneezing (and no obvious crop issues either), and now another duck has brown diarrhea, I think it's an infection. I don't know how they could have caught anything though, being exposed only to each other for 5 weeks! Although, we have allowed them to roam the yard for the last couple of weeks, so maybe something from the soil? We live on a river, fed also by a stream on our property, so I am wondering about giardia. I read about Fish-zole, or Aqua-zole, so I came on here to ask if anyone can offer more details about that. I am also wondering how effective oregeno is, and whether to sprinkle it on food or water. I'd also love to obtain an OTC antibiotic of some sort, as a general cure all, because the sneezing makes me think it's not giardia (though, I haven't witnessed this on-going, just noticed this morning), so if anyone has knowledge about how to get that, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!!!!

I'm not sure if replying to my original post will allow everyone to see my update, but I wanted to let all of you who took the time to reply know that our ducklings seem to be recovering very well. They are getting so huge, I almost don't think of them as ducklings any more, simply ducks! Energy levels are totally back to normal and I think the diarrhea has resolved as well. I didn't get any medication for them, just some TLC (down time, hand feeding niacin), switched to Nutritional Yeast from Brewer's Yeast, and giving some oregano. Unfortunately, now our littlest on has something going on with her eye (the same one that was acting strangely before)! If it's not one thing, it's another. We are using an antibiotic eye drop on this that we had in our medicine cabinet and it seems to be helping.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm not sure if replying to my original post will allow everyone to see my update, but I wanted to let all of you who took the time to reply know that our ducklings seem to be recovering very well. They are getting so huge, I almost don't think of them as ducklings any more, simply ducks! Energy levels are totally back to normal and I think the diarrhea has resolved as well. I didn't get any medication for them, just some TLC (down time, hand feeding niacin), switched to Nutritional Yeast from Brewer's Yeast, and giving some oregano. Unfortunately, now our littlest on has something going on with her eye (the same one that was acting strangely before)! If it's not one thing, it's another. We are using an antibiotic eye drop on this that we had in our medicine cabinet and it seems to be helping.

Hopefully, the eye drops will clear it up. Thank you for updating with such good news!!