breathing heavily

[karhernandez33]

I posted before about this peckin duckling its breathing heavily but the other three are fine. I got them 14 days ago as day old babies. The heat light is on but not directly over there pin they have water and food at all times . Is it normal or is it just too hot

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Do the ducklings have the space to move out of and away from the light if they want to? ... Hmmm.... Lets see, 2 wks old, they should have temp of 80-85'F, right? Do you have a thermometer to place inside your brooder?

 

[Amiga]

Do they have a way to wash their heads?

 

[karhernandez33]

Yes they can move away from the heat and water to wash there heads

 

[Amiga]

It is possible the little has a respiratory infection. Do you have a vet, or are you willing to look into oral antibiotics?

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Well my little duckling that suffered the traumatic episode at just a day or two. Amiga might recall but I don't know if I ever posted about it. I swear to Goodness, that little baby was dead in the palm of my hand. (It was just one of those crazy wild broody duck freak out moments while I was trying to force mom to take her babies in). Anyway, it was like it was gone, then it was breathing very slowly, but with a limp neck and no muscle tone in its body. So after that it finally stood up, but it was holding the little wings at a strange angle and panting. (There's the reason Holly had to go all short-story-long!) That panting and odd wing holding angle was indicative of the trauma. It just went away on its own by the following am and now the duckling is just fine.
... So, you posted 13hrs ago, did the panting stop?

 

[karhernandez33]

Its been doing it off and on for a few days after there first bath.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Hmmm. You are sure it didn't get chilled from bath? I think I'd get some Sav-A-Chick.

 

[karhernandez33]

No it didn't get chilled or all of them would be doing it .I would think

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Maybe. But just like people, they're all individuals, so you never know. For example, I had one out of 3 develop the Niacin deficiency. Same hatch, same diet, same environment, same everything. But just one got it. IDK.