Do I euthanize?

[Duck Hill]

I have two sick ducklings. They are not suffering, but taking care of them is taking up so much time I don't know what to do.

Duckling # 1 was born with birth defects. It has leg problems and can't get around on its own hardly at all. It has remained small, as well. So it's in a box and can't be with the other ducks. It hobbles around a bit and feeds itself. I have spend countless hours trying to do physical therapy on the bum leg to try to get the duck to walk normally. The therapy hasn't succeeded yet and I just don't have the time to keep it up.

Duckling #2 grew well until about four days ago when I noticed it was listless and wouldn't eat. I have been tube-feeding it since then. It does not seem to be in pain, but remains weak and listless.

I have been spending something like 5 hours a day on the care of these ducklings. I am getting exhausted. What do I do?

 

[casportpony]

I have two sick ducklings. They are not suffering, but taking care of them is taking up so much time I don't know what to do.

Duckling # 1 was born with birth defects. It has leg problems and can't get around on its own hardly at all. It has remained small, as well. So it's in a box and can't be with the other ducks. It hobbles around a bit and feeds itself. I have spend countless hours trying to do physical therapy on the bum leg to try to get the duck to walk normally. The therapy hasn't succeeded yet and I just don't have the time to keep it up.

Duckling #2 grew well until about four days ago when I noticed it was listless and wouldn't eat. I have been tube-feeding it since then. It does not seem to be in pain, but remains weak and listless.

I have been spending something like 5 hours a day on the care of these ducklings. I am getting exhausted. What do I do?

Welcome to BYC!

Sorry you're going through this, I know exactly how you feel. Can you take either to a vet to make sure you're on the right treatment plan?

-Kathy

 

[FridayYet]

Sorry you are in that situation, and bless you for doing all you have done.

I have two birds developing cross-beak, and one is getting fairly severe. It's just a matter of time until he can't feed himself and he's not gaining weight like his hatch-mates. I'm planning on euthanizing him, and possibly his brother, fairly soon. I don't have the time to tube feed and I do go on vacations/weekends away, etc. My flock needs to be somewhat self sufficient. (My neighbor checks food and water in exchange for eggs while we are gone.)

Sometimes we do all we can to help and it's not enough. Quality of life for both you and your ducklings is important. It's totally understandable if you choose to euthanize.

 

[Duck Hill]

Update: Thank you for your support. It is appreciated. I continued to care for the two sick ducklings. The dwarf duckling died yesterday. The other one was doing poorly at his midnight feeding and was dead this morning. I guess they'd had enough and decided to quit on their own. I'm sorry it happened but I did learn that, unlike chickens, ducklings are sweet and encouraging with a sick friend. It was touching to see that the healthy ducklings always went over to say "hi" and bill a welcome when I put in the sick ducklings for a supervised visit. Last night, one of my ducklings also showed great concern over the remaining sick one and tried to encourage him as well as she could.

I have drawn two conclusions from this experience:

1) I started weighing the ducklings at one week. Between one week and two weeks of age the "dwarf" duckling gained 35 grams (eating on its own). However, it had very limited mobility. The other duckling lost 15 grams and did not regain its weight in spite of sufficient tube feeding. At this age normal ducklings are growing fast. Most of my healthy ducklings gained over 100 grams, many 150 or more grams during this week. Maintaining weight or gaining only slowly - failure to thrive - is a red flag for young animals and from this experience has a poor prognosis.

2) Nature normally culls the weak as food for predators. It turns out that I wasn't doing the babies any good by prolonging the inevitable. I guess that's why ducks have a lot of babies. Some are meant to survive, and some are meant as predator food. I don't know if I'll ever have the heart to cull one myself, though. I guess I'm not enough of a predator!

I do have ten other healthy ducklings, though, and after I buried the dead duckling we went for a long walk down to the pond where they found some frog eggs to eat. Life goes on.

 

[sapphirethehen]

thats sad, im sorry

 

[sapphirethehen]

I cant belive my 11 week old chick still follows me everywere

 

[coleco]

It's always about the living, even the most caring owners cannot save them all. Its ok to feel relief and move on, imagine raising and feeding them for years to be eaten by something. The most noble thing to do at times is cull when young, quick and painless, because even a healthy bird can get shredded in seconds by predators. It doesnt make you a predator, it makes you a responsible owner and their own mother would have kicked them out for the same reason. Loss is a complex emotion, im sorry to hear that tou are experiencing it.

 

[sapphirethehen]

sure know what that feels like, my RIR died and i had her for 3 years

 

[Duck Hill]

Just lost a hen. Her insides came out with her first egg. Couldn't fix it (tried). Had to put her down. Sad - she was really tame and friendly. I guess it's part of the cycle.

 

[coleco]

It's part of both the chicken cycle and chicken owner cycle. Sorry to hear it. Last week my pure french black copper marans was killed, defeathered, torn open, and rolled 30' where the predator got her stuck in a fence and ran off when I arrived.. I picked her up to put her body in the trap as bait and various stages of eggs were plopping out on the ground. I got my revenge when several oppossums were right on it later and haven't had issue since. It's the worst when it's your fault or something that you cant fix. I was only a little late to close my coop and given a stinging reminder of predators. I expect them to be dead everytime that I get to where I keep them and I have managed to cope so far. Hope this is the last of your losses!