5 week old pekin quickly fading

[Kgriffith0712]

Hello everybody, I typically read other people's post and this is the first time I'm posting. I have five five-week-old peeking ducklings. This evening, the ducks went swimming in a kiddy pool while their pen was being cleaned. I noticed one of them was lethargic not interested in drinking, swimming, grooming. It actually got out of the pool and just stood there. Its tail was close to the ground with the tail feathers fanned out. I notice the strange Behavior so I walked over and without a struggle I was able to pick it up. Which is a bit odd as they usually run and will try to get out of your grip. I held it in a towel while the rest of them played in the pool and it started to close its eyes. Once their pen was clean they were placed back in it and while the others were pruning, eating and drinking ..it sat there under the heat lamp doing nothing but trying to rest. I watched for bowel movements and didn't see any poop. So my first thought was maybe it was constipated so I checked it vent/butt and didn't see any poop around it. But then I thought maybe it wasn't pooping because it was dehydrated from not eating or drinking. I picked it back up and made some scrambled eggs with some broccoli and coconut oil and tried to feed it and give it water and it was all attempts were unsuccessful. The strange thing is as soon as I put it down and it spread its tail feathers spread out and its tail was close to the ground again as it just rested. I'm not sure what to do I also noticed small little pimple like sores on the top of its feet. Unlike a bumblefoot I've seen before on the bottom of the foot its feet are not swollen there just a little red. Not sure if this is the beginning of an infection or bowel obstruction. This time around their pen has been fairly damp lately as they have been getting in their water more than usual. Luckily they now have all dry bedding and I have managed to contain the water that they spill. Any help would be wonderful...

 

[LovinThisFarmGirlLife]

I’m sorry to hear about your sick baby! I don’t have any idea what could be the matter but saw that this post was a day old and wanted to ask how he was doing? I was recently told that about a third of chickens don’t make it beyond several weeks for some reason. I wonder if ducks are the same? I hope this isn’t the case for you though. Crossing my fingers for you to find some answers!!

 

[chickens really]

How's the Duckling today?

 

[Kgriffith0712]

The duckling is still alive.... he stands around the waterer.. but not drinking like its other siblings. Is standing up but I noticed he seems to have a strange twitch that I didn't notice yesterday. I'm going to bring some of his eggs and broccoli to try to entice him. I'll keep you posted. lovingthisfarmgirllife... ive heard the same about duckling mortality. Maybe its something internally??
....As I was finishing writing this post my husband and I were watching him and he freaked out, started frantically panicking, fell over and started rolling over on his back almost like something was chasing him. I'm thinking there's something bigger internally wrong with this bird. Almost seems neurological.

 

[chickens really]

The duckling is still alive.... he stands around the waterer.. but not drinking like its other siblings. Is standing up but I noticed he seems to have a strange twitch that I didn't notice yesterday. I'm going to bring some of his eggs and broccoli to try to entice him. I'll keep you posted. lovingthisfarmgirllife... ive heard the same about duckling mortality. Maybe its something internally??
....As I was finishing writing this post my husband and I were watching him and he freaked out, started frantically panicking, fell over and started rolling over on his back almost like something was chasing him. I'm thinking there's something bigger internally wrong with this bird. Almost seems neurological.

What are you feeding?...Ducklings have specific dietary needs..

 

[chickens really]

Is it a Crested Pekin?..

 

[Kgriffith0712]

Chickens really... thanks for your replies and concerns. We started him out on chick starter for the first 4 weeks and it was medicated. This last week and a half days been on meat bird food. But we made sure to mix the food at first so they wouldn't have any kind of strange diarrhea from going from one food to the other. We have also been giving them minnows and scrambled duck eggs, peas, and squash. I also have gotten some crickets and superworms for them as treats.

 

[chickens really]

Chickens really... thanks for your replies and concerns. We started him out on chick starter for the first 4 weeks and it was medicated. This last week and a half days been on meat bird food. But we made sure to mix the food at first so they wouldn't have any kind of strange diarrhea from going from one food to the other. We have also been giving them minnows and scrambled duck eggs, peas, and squash. I also have gotten some crickets and superworms for them as treats.

Medicated feed is the issue..It causes neurological problems in Ducks..

 

[chickens really]

Others might tell you it doesn't cause issues..I know it does. Chick feed is for Chickens..Put them on a all flock feed. Or water fowl feed.

 

[Kgriffith0712]

Chickens really... this is only my second time raising ducks. These ducklings were from our first batch of ducks a year ago. The strange thing is that you mentioned the medicated feed.. the first ducklings we had, we used non medicated and all 12 survived perfectly. Thanks for telling me about flock feed or waterfowl feed. I will be sure to fuse that moving forward. Just another quick update, I took him from the pain and was able to hold him and a towel well my husband had the scrambled eggs in front of his face. He seemed to really hungry and started eating the scrambled eggs but in the next second he flung it out of his mouth. He also ate some of the broccoli and did the same thing almost like one Ducks test their food. Last night we added vitamins and electrolytes and their water in hopes of improving vitamin needs. Thanks for your reply on this I greatly appreciate it. I guess at this point if he doesn't want to eat or drink it's only a matter of time. I checked its gullet and didn't notice anything different from the other ducks.