Anyone do a skin biopsy on their duck?

[CoriM]

@Miss Lydia She's doing alright! She definitely still has her scabby areas on both sides. I looked at them yesterday and one scab seemed active (a drop of blood on it). But she's not worse by any means! She has a new type of straw and I took the PDZ out. She also hasn't swam in our well water for a week. She's been avoiding the wading pool but did swim in a little pond area we have that fills up when it rains. Verdict is still out I guess, as I didn't really see anything dramatic one way or another. Thanks for asking!

 

[DuckyDonna]

@Miss Lydia She's doing alright! She definitely still has her scabby areas on both sides. I looked at them yesterday and one scab seemed active (a drop of blood on it). But she's not worse by any means! She has a new type of straw and I took the PDZ out. She also hasn't swam in our well water for a week. She's been avoiding the wading pool but did swim in a little pond area we have that fills up when it rains. Verdict is still out I guess, as I didn't really see anything dramatic one way or another. Thanks for asking!

I bought some PDZ early this winter and the few times I've used it I felt nervous about it so I haven't used it much. I had stopped even before you had a problem. Not saying any of my ducks had any issues but the way the ducks are always nibbling and digging around I just didn't think it would be a great thing for them to eat. I'm probably over reacting for no reason since everyone else seems to like it quite a bit.

 

[CoriM]

@Miss Lydia - the other change I made right before I noticed Penny's skin problem was oyster shells. Previously I had only bought a small bag of organic oyster shell flakes. It was really expensive, and when I went up to Tractor Supply (which is kind of far from me) I got a huge bag or cheap oyster shells. There wouldn't be any way that she could be allergic to that and it would affect her skin, could there? I've tried to look online and haven't seen anyone else discussing that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am not sure @CoriM I guess there could be an allergy but haven’t ever heard of one. Let’s ask @casportpony if she knows.

 

[CoriM]

@DuckyDonna I've scoured the internet to see if anyone's had problems with PDZ. The most I've come up with is a horse who may have died after ingesting it. I felt like I had to be careful handling it when sprinkling it in ducks pen because if you inhale any of the dust it's uncomfortable. I would sure love to find that this has been the problem in my duck's case, because it would be an easy solution. $800 and three months of trouble later.....

 

[casportpony]

How’s Penny? Too lazy to hunt up your thread.

Here ya go!

@Miss Lydia She's doing alright! She definitely still has her scabby areas on both sides. I looked at them yesterday and one scab seemed active (a drop of blood on it). But she's not worse by any means! She has a new type of straw and I took the PDZ out. She also hasn't swam in our well water for a week. She's been avoiding the wading pool but did swim in a little pond area we have that fills up when it rains. Verdict is still out I guess, as I didn't really see anything dramatic one way or another. Thanks for asking!

Glad to hear she is not worse.

I bought some PDZ early this winter and the few times I've used it I felt nervous about it so I haven't used it much. I had stopped even before you had a problem. Not saying any of my ducks had any issues but the way the ducks are always nibbling and digging around I just didn't think it would be a great thing for them to eat. I'm probably over reacting for no reason since everyone else seems to like it quite a bit.

Using is would make me nervous too.

@Miss Lydia - the other change I made right before I noticed Penny's skin problem was oyster shells. Previously I had only bought a small bag of organic oyster shell flakes. It was really expensive, and when I went up to Tractor Supply (which is kind of far from me) I got a huge bag or cheap oyster shells. There wouldn't be any way that she could be allergic to that and it would affect her skin, could there? I've tried to look online and haven't seen anyone else discussing that.

I am not sure @CoriM I guess there could be an allergy but haven’t ever heard of one. Let’s ask @casportpony if she knows.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I found allergy to oysters and shellfish but nothing about oyster shell an allergy.

 

[Loopeend]

A bit late; But I have had ducks having a skin biopsy directly from the avian vet.

It was not the same problem. They had sticky oily scabs around the head and face without blood. The use of a biopsy was to see if it was infection caused by mites and such or other things living in/on their skin. So that can be a use of a skin biopsy.

Turned out it was a thing like cradle-cap in baby humans. It went away after their adult feathers set in and never returned. But was heritadic (is that a word? that it's in the genes and their baby's have a good chance of having it too).

I'm leaving this here in case other people with a simulour problem click on your post; but it looks more like this case then yours.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@DuckyDonna I've scoured the internet to see if anyone's had problems with PDZ. The most I've come up with is a horse who may have died after ingesting it. I felt like I had to be careful handling it when sprinkling it in ducks pen because if you inhale any of the dust it's uncomfortable. I would sure love to find that this has been the problem in my duck's case, because it would be an easy solution. $800 and three months of trouble later.....

I know. I'm sorry you're having so much trouble. Hopefully, she will start to get better. I think you did right cleaning the pen all up and starting from scratch. You've got to narrow things down to find out what the problem is especially since you've got another one with a mild case.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Here ya go!

Glad to hear she is not worse.

Using is would make me nervous too.

Well, that does it for me. If you think the PDZ is creepy I'm definitely not using it anymore. Not sure what to do with it. Only used about 2 cups out of the whole bag.