Dead Pekin (HELP not sure what happened!)

Led ByTheWind

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Feb 23, 2015
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Grass Lake, Michigan
Hey everyone.

So a little background: Guenevere is a 10 week old Pekin. Fully feathered. Lives with 4 other sister Pekins. They have full time access to food and water as well as a pond that has a homemade bio-filter set up. They eat organic soy free feed. They forage and get snacks a couple of times a week. They seem well adjusted and super happy and healthy. Guenevere had a couple of struggles but none that seemed life threatening. About a week ago, she was running around the yard (as ducks sometimes do for no reason) and tripped. She started limping so we kept an eye on her. The limp stayed so I separated her into a small run so she could recover (I put a companion duck in with her as she got super stressed to not be with the others). After a few days she was looking a lot better so I let her back out with the rest of the ducks. She was walking fine but still hobbled a bit when all the ducks ran. She ate and drank like normal. And I encouraged her to stay in the pond so she could heal as well. Issue #2, Guenevere had a bit of an eye "infection." There was discharge occasionally on both eyes. In the form of white bubbles. I noticed it, read online and put apple cider vinegar in her water (in her cage with her while she was resting). It really seemed to do the trick and she was looking better.

So this evening we got home (we were gone for 2 hours) and she was dead, floating in the pond. Again, I've kept a close eye on her the last few weeks. She looked great before we left. Swimming away and playing like normal. No visible signs of death. I am so confused and sad. My worry is if it was something that may infect the rest of the group, I would like to "treat" them to prevent any more unneeded death.

A couple of ideas:
1) The eye infection was some kid of internal disease that killed her
2) The leg injury was too stressful? Could that have killed her?
3) She possibly drowned? (Please note that our pond has VERY easy access to get in and out of the pond. About a 6" step out)

If anyone has an idea as to what could have killed poor Guenevere please let me know. Thank you SO much in advance.
 
It could have been almost anything. The only way to be sure is a necropsy.

It is possible with the leg injury that six inches was too much of a reach for her, or she could have had a cardiovascular event due to an unknown congenital problem. I suppose something could have injured her.

I do not think you were neglecting her.
 
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@Amiga Thanks for the feedback.

She was getting in and out of the pond fine for days. But the strain could have just been too much over time and the 6" could have been the problem. I just don't know. Also, after reading and looking for specifics, I couldn't find exactly what could have caused the eye discharge. Foamy white bubbles? Does this ring any bells? Also accompanied with diarrhea (I just went in the barn and found out)?
 
Foamy eye is an infection - and often especially early, has been treated by folks with ACV in water. It has also been treated with saline solution or Vetericyn or antibiotic eye drops.

Sometimes there is an infection going on in the system that we have no indication of until the duck dies.
 

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