Depressed Duck/Duck missing wing feathers

JackieNaeole

Hatching
Oct 8, 2020
2
1
3
Hi all,


This is going to be long. I want to give al the info I can in hopes that someone can help me!

I live in Kona, Hawai’i. About 6 months ago a Muscovy duck wondered into my yard.I fed her and she decided to stay. She’s been doing well as long as she’s been here. We built her a pond. She forages for food around the property and we feed her seeds, cat food (she discovered it one day and she loves it), cucumbers, papaya, and any fruit we can find. She also gets worms that I find in the yard. She never let us pet her. She would wag her tail and eat from our hands and come when we called for her but she was never comfortable with being petted.

About two months after she showed up we noticed she would be gone all day and her poop would be horrendous. We discovered she was incubating eggs. We have never had a duck so we let her go to see what would happen. Well after the incubation period no eggs hatched and she was still sitting. We ended up taking her eggs because they were not fertilized and we were afraid of them exploding and hurting or infecting her. This was about 6 weeks ago. She seemed fine after two days. She was back to eating regularly and all was fine.

Yesterday, (October 7), she was sitting under her favorite plant not moving much. Last night (October 7) she did not come out to eat. I didn’t think anything of it. She does not always eat when we feed her. Sometimes she’s had enough to eat. And she doesn’t always wander the yard. Lately she’s been sticking to her pond and her favorite plant.

This morning, my boyfriend woke up to find her laying in the dirt wings spread out and beak down. She let him pick her up without a fight. She is letting us pet her. She is not eating and I haven’t seen her drink. She has also been molting which didn’t seem abnormal until today. We noticed her right wing is almost completely featherless. Her left seems fine!

I don’t know what to do. She is just laying on our porch not eating or drinking. Not even responding to my voice. She doesn’t seem REMOTELY interested in food.

Please please help me. I don’t want to loose her. As I said we’ve never had a duck and she just wandered in one day. We’ve been relying on the internet and trial and error when it comes to food.

Please! Help me!

I have attached photos to help! The first three of are her this morning. The last was taken a few months ago.
 

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I live in Kona, Hawai’i. About 6 months ago a Muscovy duck wondered into my yard.I fed her and she decided to stay. She’s been doing well as long as she’s been here. We built her a pond. She forages for food around the property and we feed her seeds, cat food (she discovered it one day and she loves it), cucumbers, papaya, and any fruit we can find. She also gets worms that I find in the yard. She never let us pet her. She would wag her tail and eat from our hands and come when we called for her but she was never comfortable with being petted.
First off, I wouldn't feed cat food. It is high in salt, and has other additives that aren't good for them. If you re gonna feed her, you need to feed real duck food. Avoid all cities fruits! They can upset there stomach, and never feed mango, that will hake there throat itchy and can make them barf. You can look up what to feed, and not to feed ducks, but please do, there are a lot of things. Now, I will finish reading your post!:lol:
 
Sorry to hear she's having problems. I would agree with @Weeg , that switching her to a balanced feed would be a good start.

Regarding her current state of health, could you answer these questions?

Did this lethargic type behavior appear over a few days, or suddenly? Could you post a few pictures of her poop? How does her abdominal area feel? Is she able to move? Is she breathing ok? Do you provide her with any calcium in her diet, if so, in the form of what? Has she had any problems with laying eggs in the past?

As of now, I would suggest moving her inside, into a warm, dimly lit, stressful free area, with a feed and water source provided until we can better understand what's going on here.
 
Sorry to hear she's having problems. I would agree with @Weeg , that switching her to a balanced feed would be a good start.

Regarding her current state of health, could you answer these questions?

Did this lethargic type behavior appear over a few days, or suddenly? Could you post a few pictures of her poop? How does her abdominal area feel? Is she able to move? Is she breathing ok? Do you provide her with any calcium in her diet, if so, in the form of what? Has she had any problems with laying eggs in the past?

As of now, I would suggest moving her inside, into a warm, dimly lit, stressful free area, with a feed and water source provided until we can better understand what's going on here.

Hi,

the lethargy was very sudden. She was acting Like her usual self until yesterday.

She is a little more spunky today. She doesn’t like us petting her but she isn’t moving much. Which to me is a sign that she may be feeling more herself. Also, yesterday morning she could not even hold her head up and she was laying flat on her belly with her wings and legs splayed out. Last night she was holding her head up and sitting with her legs beneath her.

Her abdomen feels fine. It was a but tricky getting her to let me touch her but I felt around and didn’t find anything abnormal. ButI don’t know what I would be looking for.

I think she is physically able to move but doesn’t. She doesn’t seem to be in pain and when I was feeling her abdomen she did not react in any way other than trying to nibble my hand. Her breathing is not labored or slow or shallow. Nothing concerning there. She doesn’t do her huffing when she sees us which is out of character. But I think it’s just because she is not feeling well

I noticed she was sitting in her poop this morning. While I was trying to figure out how to move her she pooped again! And it was so so so stinky. I attached a photo. I also was able to pick her up and move her (much to her dismay I rinsed off the poop from her body and her surrounding area. I put her in a new dry spot.


we don’t intentionally feed her calcium. Like is said we feed her fruits, veggies, seeds, and she forages.

As far as I know she has not had any egg laying problems.We have an acre of land and Duckie wanders around everywhere. Honestly, it’s not unusual to not see her all day and I’m not sure where she goes or what she does during that time.

At the moment she seems to be doing a bit better. Holding her head up and nibbling my hand.

I am afraid to bring her inside the house because as far as I know she has never been indoors and if I put her inside there is no way for her to get outside if she needed/wanted too since nobody is home to watch for those needs. we do live in Hawai’i and it doesn’t really get cold here I am more concerned she will get over heated.

Right now, we have a camera trained on her for us to keep an eye on her while at work. We left her plenty of seeds and cucumbers (her favorite) and lots of water. Our youngest kitten seems to enjoy laying with her and Duckie doesn’t seem to mind. The chickens also seem to be leaving her alone which is also good. That’s about as stress free that we can get. It is relatively quiet here and nobody comes to the house during the day. I gave her a pillow to lay on and a cat bed and a blanket close enough for her to reach but not on her in case she gets too hot. I also put up a small partition to give her shade throughout the day when the sun get brutal.

where would I find duck feed? Like I said I live in Kona we have a petco and one feed store that sells mostly horse/chicken food. We have had no luck finding Duck food here and shehas been healthy and happy (as far as I can tell) since she wanders in and so we never continued to search for duck food Also, because she forages I assumed that she would know what she and her body needed to be healthy.

To anyone reading this thread:
please don’t attack me or think I don’t care or purposely have ignored her health/diet needs. I love my Duckie but she found us and as I’ll equipped as i feel right now and have been I would never EVER do anything purposely harmful to her. I am truly just trying my best here.

Thanks for all your help. I really do appreciate it.
 
Hi,

the lethargy was very sudden. She was acting Like her usual self until yesterday.

She is a little more spunky today. She doesn’t like us petting her but she isn’t moving much. Which to me is a sign that she may be feeling more herself. Also, yesterday morning she could not even hold her head up and she was laying flat on her belly with her wings and legs splayed out. Last night she was holding her head up and sitting with her legs beneath her.

Her abdomen feels fine. It was a but tricky getting her to let me touch her but I felt around and didn’t find anything abnormal. ButI don’t know what I would be looking for.

I think she is physically able to move but doesn’t. She doesn’t seem to be in pain and when I was feeling her abdomen she did not react in any way other than trying to nibble my hand. Her breathing is not labored or slow or shallow. Nothing concerning there. She doesn’t do her huffing when she sees us which is out of character. But I think it’s just because she is not feeling well

I noticed she was sitting in her poop this morning. While I was trying to figure out how to move her she pooped again! And it was so so so stinky. I attached a photo. I also was able to pick her up and move her (much to her dismay I rinsed off the poop from her body and her surrounding area. I put her in a new dry spot.


we don’t intentionally feed her calcium. Like is said we feed her fruits, veggies, seeds, and she forages.

As far as I know she has not had any egg laying problems.We have an acre of land and Duckie wanders around everywhere. Honestly, it’s not unusual to not see her all day and I’m not sure where she goes or what she does during that time.

At the moment she seems to be doing a bit better. Holding her head up and nibbling my hand.

I am afraid to bring her inside the house because as far as I know she has never been indoors and if I put her inside there is no way for her to get outside if she needed/wanted too since nobody is home to watch for those needs. we do live in Hawai’i and it doesn’t really get cold here I am more concerned she will get over heated.

Right now, we have a camera trained on her for us to keep an eye on her while at work. We left her plenty of seeds and cucumbers (her favorite) and lots of water. Our youngest kitten seems to enjoy laying with her and Duckie doesn’t seem to mind. The chickens also seem to be leaving her alone which is also good. That’s about as stress free that we can get. It is relatively quiet here and nobody comes to the house during the day. I gave her a pillow to lay on and a cat bed and a blanket close enough for her to reach but not on her in case she gets too hot. I also put up a small partition to give her shade throughout the day when the sun get brutal.

where would I find duck feed? Like I said I live in Kona we have a petco and one feed store that sells mostly horse/chicken food. We have had no luck finding Duck food here and shehas been healthy and happy (as far as I can tell) since she wanders in and so we never continued to search for duck food Also, because she forages I assumed that she would know what she and her body needed to be healthy.

To anyone reading this thread:
please don’t attack me or think I don’t care or purposely have ignored her health/diet needs. I love my Duckie but she found us and as I’ll equipped as i feel right now and have been I would never EVER do anything purposely harmful to her. I am truly just trying my best here.

Thanks for all your help. I really do appreciate it.
Do you know what brands/types of chicken feed the feed store has? Chicken feed is much better than cat food for a duck nutritionally speaking. I would also see if they have "oyster shells" for poultry along with a poultry electrolyte/vitamin supplement like Duravet. Does she only stay on your acre or does she leave at times? If she is solely foraging off of your 1 acre with only some veggies and cat food to supplement she very well may be nutritionally depleted.
 
Hi,

the lethargy was very sudden. She was acting Like her usual self until yesterday.

She is a little more spunky today. She doesn’t like us petting her but she isn’t moving much. Which to me is a sign that she may be feeling more herself. Also, yesterday morning she could not even hold her head up and she was laying flat on her belly with her wings and legs splayed out. Last night she was holding her head up and sitting with her legs beneath her.

Her abdomen feels fine. It was a but tricky getting her to let me touch her but I felt around and didn’t find anything abnormal. ButI don’t know what I would be looking for.

I think she is physically able to move but doesn’t. She doesn’t seem to be in pain and when I was feeling her abdomen she did not react in any way other than trying to nibble my hand. Her breathing is not labored or slow or shallow. Nothing concerning there. She doesn’t do her huffing when she sees us which is out of character. But I think it’s just because she is not feeling well

I noticed she was sitting in her poop this morning. While I was trying to figure out how to move her she pooped again! And it was so so so stinky. I attached a photo. I also was able to pick her up and move her (much to her dismay I rinsed off the poop from her body and her surrounding area. I put her in a new dry spot.


we don’t intentionally feed her calcium. Like is said we feed her fruits, veggies, seeds, and she forages.

As far as I know she has not had any egg laying problems.We have an acre of land and Duckie wanders around everywhere. Honestly, it’s not unusual to not see her all day and I’m not sure where she goes or what she does during that time.

At the moment she seems to be doing a bit better. Holding her head up and nibbling my hand.

I am afraid to bring her inside the house because as far as I know she has never been indoors and if I put her inside there is no way for her to get outside if she needed/wanted too since nobody is home to watch for those needs. we do live in Hawai’i and it doesn’t really get cold here I am more concerned she will get over heated.

Right now, we have a camera trained on her for us to keep an eye on her while at work. We left her plenty of seeds and cucumbers (her favorite) and lots of water. Our youngest kitten seems to enjoy laying with her and Duckie doesn’t seem to mind. The chickens also seem to be leaving her alone which is also good. That’s about as stress free that we can get. It is relatively quiet here and nobody comes to the house during the day. I gave her a pillow to lay on and a cat bed and a blanket close enough for her to reach but not on her in case she gets too hot. I also put up a small partition to give her shade throughout the day when the sun get brutal.

where would I find duck feed? Like I said I live in Kona we have a petco and one feed store that sells mostly horse/chicken food. We have had no luck finding Duck food here and shehas been healthy and happy (as far as I can tell) since she wanders in and so we never continued to search for duck food Also, because she forages I assumed that she would know what she and her body needed to be healthy.

To anyone reading this thread:
please don’t attack me or think I don’t care or purposely have ignored her health/diet needs. I love my Duckie but she found us and as I’ll equipped as i feel right now and have been I would never EVER do anything purposely harmful to her. I am truly just trying my best here.

Thanks for all your help. I really do appreciate it.

Do you, or can you get a calcium supplement like Calcium citrate, gluconate, or just plain tums. If yes, I would give her some of that.

One of the leading cause's of "sudden lethargic" behavior in waterfowl is reproductive problems.
 

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