Galaxyfalcon
Songster
Hey all,
The last 2-3 days my oldest current duck, Herman (2 1/2 yrs old) has been really sleepy/lethargic, a lot more than usual. A couple of things to note: She lost her companion Momma Duck back in Spring and hasn't formed any super close bonds with her duckling girls (3 other girls currently) so she'll hang out with them but also wander off to forage by herself, which is something her and Momma Duck used to do together.
Since this last weekend or so we had a "false spring" and everyone got really horny/aggressive and while it's calming down, its still not completely back to normal so we're keeping the Drakes in Drake Jail and alternating who has outside time and who is in the duck run. To top it all off, her oldest male duckling (Triton) who is right below her on the pecking order has been battling her in a series of "beak battles" which we assume is a dominance thing for determining pecking order. Herman is feisty but smaller than Triton and doesn't back down easily. We let it go at first but have since stepped in to stop the fight and have been ensuring the two are separate today and yesterday to give Herman a break.
I'm a little concerned with how sleepy she is; she's always been a little lower-energy than the other ducks but this is noticeable. She's still eating and drinking fine it seems. I put some nutri-drench in the girls' water last night and I know she had some of that. I'm not sure if she's just tired/bruised from her Beak Battles or if there's anything else going on — after searching the forum egg yolk peredontis matches some of the symptoms but honestly it could be a wide range of things. We're also treating her for a minor case of bumble on her right foot so it could also be that she's battling an infection.
One other thought is that if she is sick or weakening, this could also be the cause of the Beak Battles.
Are there any other things we could be doing to help her out/any other illnesses we should be considering?
edit: just found her sitting down and shivering slightly. That can't be good, not sure what's going on.
The last 2-3 days my oldest current duck, Herman (2 1/2 yrs old) has been really sleepy/lethargic, a lot more than usual. A couple of things to note: She lost her companion Momma Duck back in Spring and hasn't formed any super close bonds with her duckling girls (3 other girls currently) so she'll hang out with them but also wander off to forage by herself, which is something her and Momma Duck used to do together.
Since this last weekend or so we had a "false spring" and everyone got really horny/aggressive and while it's calming down, its still not completely back to normal so we're keeping the Drakes in Drake Jail and alternating who has outside time and who is in the duck run. To top it all off, her oldest male duckling (Triton) who is right below her on the pecking order has been battling her in a series of "beak battles" which we assume is a dominance thing for determining pecking order. Herman is feisty but smaller than Triton and doesn't back down easily. We let it go at first but have since stepped in to stop the fight and have been ensuring the two are separate today and yesterday to give Herman a break.
I'm a little concerned with how sleepy she is; she's always been a little lower-energy than the other ducks but this is noticeable. She's still eating and drinking fine it seems. I put some nutri-drench in the girls' water last night and I know she had some of that. I'm not sure if she's just tired/bruised from her Beak Battles or if there's anything else going on — after searching the forum egg yolk peredontis matches some of the symptoms but honestly it could be a wide range of things. We're also treating her for a minor case of bumble on her right foot so it could also be that she's battling an infection.
One other thought is that if she is sick or weakening, this could also be the cause of the Beak Battles.
Are there any other things we could be doing to help her out/any other illnesses we should be considering?
edit: just found her sitting down and shivering slightly. That can't be good, not sure what's going on.
Last edited:
