DO NOT SLEEP WITH DUCKLINGS

[lovelyducklings]

I am going to admit something that no one knows about except me.....

I do not remember how I happened to end up with a single chick, but I had the chick nestled in a sock in a box by my bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, the chick started peeping. It would not stop. So, I decided to cuddle it with me. I guess sometime in the night, I rolled on the chick and killed it.

I never admitted it, Moma asked about the chick, and I just told her it died in the night. Moma tried to console me by telling me chicks sometimes just aren't healthy........

I was 8 or 9 years old, I was devastated!

So, I know exactly how you feel and exactly why you feel that way. I don't know anything to say to make you feel better. But as you grow up and the years pass, you will learn to come to terms with things that happen to you in your life. You will learn that despite your very best intentions, things will not always work or be the way you would prefer.
Sending you hugs....

thank you for being there for me, I'm trying really hard to push it out of my head but all I've been doing is sobbing all day. all I have to do is think of him and I start crying

 

[Amiga]

 

[Amykins]

thank you for being there for me, I'm trying really hard to push it out of my head but all I've been doing is sobbing all day. all I have to do is think of him and I start crying

I know, hun...the day I lose Milkshake, I noticed her head sorta going from one side to another, and I just sorta wrote it off as a quirk. I should have known better. Of all people, I should have recognized the signs. By time she started seizing, it was too late. It's been six months and I still ask myself if she could have been saved if only I'd gotten her to the vet sooner.

It's clear you loved your duckie, and ignorance sucks for first-time owners. A lot. Heck, most of us have horror stories to share about the steep learning curve! Some mistakes are more egregious than others. All you did was love your baby bird and tried to get closer to him. I'm just so, so sorry that it ended in tragedy. Are the other ducklets doing ok?

 

[chickmomma03]

Quote: I had a 3wk old chick die in my hands wrapped in a towel for warmth, and she too seized right before she died. It was HARD to watch, but there wasn't anything I could have done for her.

The only thing I could find comfort in was knowing she didn't die alone, she died knowing she was loved.

 

[Amykins]

I had a 3wk old chick die in my hands wrapped in a towel for warmth, and she too seized right before she died. It was HARD to watch, but there wasn't anything I could have done for her.

The only thing I could find comfort in was knowing she didn't die alone, she died knowing she was loved.

I think that was the worst of it for me, she died en route to the animal hospital. Stuffed in a carrier. I was talking to her, but still. Gah, sorry...I'm totally taking attention away from Lovely and that's not right. Even so, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It's gut-wrenching.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

thank you for being there for me, I'm trying really hard to push it out of my head but all I've been doing is sobbing all day. all I have to do is think of him and I start crying

You're a lovely, sweet person. Just for another long story I hope will be some small amount of comfort...

I'm not new to this. I was investigating nesting material since all of them have pros and cons, so I was trying to find an "all pros" thing since we are intensely interested in the eggs our ducks produce because we incubate them to hatch ducklings.

I found some nesting pads that had mostly stellar reviews after I did much research. The "bad" reviews were mostly the ducks/chickens just didn't like them and avoided them. I figured they were worth a try, so I bought some. Our ducks loved them, so I Ioved them. The ducks liked to snuggle down in them, they kept the eggs very nice and clean, all was well, and I sang the praises of these nesting pads here and elsewhere.

We lost our top show duck, which will be two weeks ago this coming Sunday, because she ate so much of the nesting material. I asked both the state vet and our avian vet (which I know we're very blessed to have a real avian vet) what in the world could have caused a duck that had good duck feed, water, grit, daily treats, several hours of daily foraging to decide to eat all that nesting material. The state vet just said, "Who knows, I've seen it before," and our wonderful avian vet said he's seen it before as well, and that there's really no way to predict things like. He said the same thing could have happened with chips/shavings if she'd decided to eat them. I have tortured myself ever since then since this was a choice I made.

One other thing I want you to know even though it's not likely. There's no way for you to know that having him/her in the bed with you caused this. Please don't try that again, but you're not going to know unless you get a necropsy done to see if it suffocated or something. I don't recommend doing that since you can't change it, but I'm glad I had one done. Had I not had a necropsy done on our duck, I would have thought oviduct eversion was was killed her because of the symptoms. The minute I saw the email from the state vet about wanting nesting pad samples, all nest pads came out from the coops, and they're of course never going back in, but I would have been way off-base with my own "diagnosis" if I hadn't taken her in.

 

[chickmomma03]

Quote: Hey, you were trying. I didn't even get to take her anywhere. It wasn't business hours, but I really don't think they could have done anything for her anyways. She clearly had something neurologically wrong with her.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I think that was the worst of it for me, she died en route to the animal hospital. Stuffed in a carrier. I was talking to her, but still. Gah, sorry...I'm totally taking attention away from Lovely and that's not right. Even so, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It's gut-wrenching.

You are so right, and I wasn't trying to take attention away from her pain. She's still so torn up over this, as I would be, that I thought I should share a story that showed that all of us make mistakes we don't intend and can't predict. I'm kind of wishing now I could go back and delete my last post in this thread.

 

[Amykins]

You are so right, and I wasn't trying to take attention away from her pain. She's still so torn up over this, as I would be, that I thought I should share a story that showed that all of us make mistakes we don't intend and can't predict. I'm kind of wishing now I could go back and delete my last post in this thread.

Nonono, I don't think you are doing that at all! I just personally feel bad talking about myself when someone else is hurting. :/ There's just something so awful about losing a chick or duckling. I've lost other pets, but a little duck is just, I dunno. So tiny and fragile. I wish no one ever had to experience it.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Nonono, I don't think you are doing that at all! I just personally feel bad talking about myself when someone else is hurting. :/ There's just something so awful about losing a chick or duckling. I've lost other pets, but a little duck is just, I dunno. So tiny and fragile. I wish no one ever had to experience it.

I wish nobody had to experience losing any pet. It's certainly not emotionally as bad as losing a human relative, but it's terribly stressful in a different way. It's an awful thing, regardless the circumstances. Very awful thing, and it just sticks with you. I can kind of understand the death and feeling like it's my fault thing, so I don't like it for them any more than I like it for myself.