Can hear my ducks breathing?

[threelittleduckies]

Hi, so I’m new to caring for ducks. We have 3 runners, 4.5 weeks old. I took them to an avian vet on Monday as I could hear one of them breathing quite loudly the night before. She’s not gasping or panting but it’s clear it’s taking more effort to breath than it should. The vet says she thinks it’s aspergillosis she prescribed medication which I nebulise them with 2x a day. I don’t understand because I’ve worked so hard to keep them clean and happy.

They have had access to warm indoor baths since they were about a week old when it’s cold outside. Heat lamp above their brooder. Cleaned out their brooder 4-5 times a day, tending to them from 5am - midnight providing clean food, bedding and water each time. They get brewers yeast and avian probiotics with vit a, c and e.They’ve foraged outside when the weather has been warm/hot and have eaten raspberries growing in our garden. So... how could they have got this? Everything I read online points to poor hygiene...and the guilt is eating me up inside ... I don’t know how much more I could have done to keep them healthy and their brooder clean I’m wondering if there is something else I missed or did wrong? Any advice, ideas? Maybe it’s not aspergillosis but something else? The breathing sounds like something stuck in their nares but they are all completely clear/clean.

Thanks

 

[chickenlittle21]

Can I see pictures?

 

[threelittleduckies]

Can I see pictures?

 

[nao57]

Its particularly fun to see runner pics! XD

Thanks.

It might not have been anything you did that could cause it. Young animals would just be more vulnerable than the others. So its not your fault.

It could have also come in through flies, or pests. Or stored grain, getting it in the food before you bought it.

I would just worry about recovery.

NOW one more thing...

One thing you can do is maybe do more temperature control right now. Many people don't know this because our news is all screwed up but the midwest, US, and western states are all having a super heat dome, for the next 3 or 4 weeks.

This is covering most of the mid US and it will be super hot for weeks. They were quoting a lot of areas reaching up to 120 degrees.

This combined with you have young animals (vulnerable), plus being sick (more vulnerable)....

You could possibly think about sticking the sick guy and 2 others with it in a basement while its recovering or something.

 

[threelittleduckies]

Its particularly fun to see runner pics! XD

Thanks.

It might not have been anything you did that could cause it. Young animals would just be more vulnerable than the others. So its not your fault.

It could have also come in through flies, or pests. Or stored grain, getting it in the food before you bought it.

I would just worry about recovery.

NOW one more thing...

One thing you can do is maybe do more temperature control right now. Many people don't know this because our news is all screwed up but the midwest, US, and western states are all having a super heat dome, for the next 3 or 4 weeks.

This is covering most of the mid US and it will be super hot for weeks. They were quoting a lot of areas reaching up to 120 degrees.

This combined with you have young animals (vulnerable), plus being sick (more vulnerable)....

You could possibly think about sticking the sick guy and 2 others with it in a basement while its recovering or something.

haha glad u enjoyed the photos! I have about 3 million pics already, I can’t stop snapping away! So sorry, I should have mentioned that I am in the U.K. and sadly hot weather is something we are severely lacking here it’s about 21 degrees Celsius in my house now. I haven’t got the heat lamp on at the moment because they sit as far away from it as possible so figured they’re warm enough but I usually leave it on at night anyway (Just along one edge) as it’s so unpredictable here and the temp can drop unexpectedly.

I still make them dry up under the lamp when they’ve had an indoor bath so they don’t get cold. They are about half feathered now, maybe a a little less.


Is room temp ok for them or should they be warmer because they are sick?
Thanks

 

[nao57]

haha glad u enjoyed the photos! I have about 3 million pics already, I can’t stop snapping away! So sorry, I should have mentioned that I am in the U.K. and sadly hot weather is something we are severely lacking here it’s about 21 degrees Celsius in my house now. I haven’t got the heat lamp on at the moment because they sit as far away from it as possible so figured they’re warm enough but I usually leave it on at night anyway (Just along one edge) as it’s so unpredictable here and the temp can drop unexpectedly.

I still make them dry up under the lamp when they’ve had an indoor bath so they don’t get cold. They are about half feathered now, maybe a a little less.


Is room temp ok for them or should they be warmer because they are sick?
Thanks

Well let's see what area of the UK are you in? I can use that to check average heat temperatures in your are (in general. It doesn't have to be specific.) This can then be compared to how the year is looking and project a pattern.

However, a number of people in the US, Canada, and British Isles are expecting extra cold this fall beyond normal. (This could help you plan now. Because we all hate losing stuff.)

Another thing I thought of to help you...

The nature of certain vermin like grasshoppers, pests, insects, etc, is that they can lay eggs and then not have them hatch until the next year for certain types of species.

Its very likely that this could be how you could have done everything right and still gotten this sickness brought in. It could have been lain in some grain you bought without even anyone knowing its there, etc. (Not for sure but this is a possibility in general.)

People have identified some insects as also even laying eggs that can lay dormant for years. (This happens in Siberia for some insects only coming up once a decade etc.) And like the plague locusts in the news in Africa they'd talked about how these locusts might have had their eggs there for awhile and they won't hatch until the wet season. (Some types of illnesses are carried in by insects see... such as the famous ursinia pestis.)

Room temperature is probably OK.

But the radical changes of going from hot to cold at night, that I'd try to avoid because that's stress.

You know, I'm betting if you do see it weak at times you could even try that glucose water trick that those other people told me here for travel stressed ducklings. (Probably only needed when you see it weak.)

 

[threelittleduckies]

@nao57

Thanks so much, I do feel a little better...

We are in the East of England, Cambridgeshire. It’s cloudy and 22 degrees and a little windy today. I think I may play it safe and keep them in today as their breathing seems louder and more laboured today

I’ll get some glucose tablets and give them glucose water tonight. They had chopped kale and apple this morning.