Does my duck have a cold?

[Jlw0903]

This is the second time this has happened now. The first was early sepetember after returning from vacation i noticed one of my rouens had completly lost her voice. As she was acting perfectly normal and it came back within a couple days i wrote it off as maybe she was mated to roughly. However she has lost her voice again and I am concerned now. Again she is acting 100% normal eating fine and her poop is typical for my ducks.

Ive read that ACV is good for health and i put a cup in a bin of water for them. She drank some but perhaps it ifritated her throat becausr she began cough/sneezing and she hadnt been doing that previously. It stopped after a while. I took her inside for a warm bath and it seemed to help a tiny bit? I heard some small quacks mixed in the squeaks.

Im worried it could be something bigger as well as her egg laying has been weird for almost half the laying season now - thin shelled eggs that are bumpy and almost always have a grayish meat spot in them (pics included)

Ill be calling my vet today but i might be the only person who takes their ducks to the vet so i think their experience might be limited to my crazy antics.
Thanks in advaced.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The going recipe is 1-2 Tablespoons of ACV to 1 gal of water.

Are you offering oyster shell along with their feed. If not get some and put out in a bowl close to their feed they will use it as they need it. That should help with thin shells.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[Jlw0903]

The going recipe is 1-2 Tablespoons of ACV to 1 gal of water.

Are you offering oyster shell along with their feed. If not get some and put out in a bowl close to their feed they will use it as they need it. That should help with thin shells.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

Perhaps i had too much ACV and it irritated her throat (others were fine though).
They have free access to oyster shells and grit (for my drake) but none of them seem to want to eat either. I could maybe throw treats in to help get them interested in it again. I jusr know that there can be issues if theres too much calcium and my other girls dont have problems...

Gah if its not one thing its another with these ducks and it keeps me stressed out. Im always worried about them

 

[Jlw0903]

The going recipe is 1-2 Tablespoons of ACV to 1 gal of water.

Are you offering oyster shell along with their feed. If not get some and put out in a bowl close to their feed they will use it as they need it. That should help with thin shells.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I took them off they layer feed cuz i know drakes can have kidney problems with too much calcium. I dont think hes smart enough to eat out of his own food dish if i had seperate food. Should i start the layer feed again and risk him harm? I really dont care about getting eggs tbh i just want my ducks to be healthy and happy

 

[Crazy Maizie]

You can just offer oyster shell and crushed egg shell on the side. Whether or not you care about eggs, hens of all types of birds need a calcium source. I feed an all flock and provide separate dishes of oyster/crushed egg shell. All of my hens do fine.
Grit is for all birds regardless of gender.
When I have egg laying issues - even people that provide layer feed have issues from time to time - I add crushed citracal its calcium plus vitamin d. The vitamin d helps the calcium to absorb. Or you can give them the liquid calcium gluconate. Sometimes I throw oyster shell on the ground or even offer with a dollop of yogurt.
Also, cut out all treats when having thin shells until the issue is rectified. Some hens are prone to egg laying issues regardless of what you do.
Are they under any stress? Stress can also contribute to egg laying issues.

 

[Jlw0903]

You can just offer oyster shell and crushed egg shell on the side. Whether or not you care about eggs, hens of all types of birds need a calcium source. I feed an all flock and provide separate dishes of oyster/crushed egg shell. All of my hens do fine.
Grit is for all birds regardless of gender.
When I have egg laying issues - even people that provide layer feed have issues from time to time - I add crushed citracal its calcium plus vitamin d. The vitamin d helps the calcium to absorb. Or you can give them the liquid calcium gluconate. Sometimes I throw oyster shell on the ground or even offer with a dollop of yogurt.
Also, cut out all treats when having thin shells until the issue is rectified. Some hens are prone to egg laying issues regardless of what you do.
Are they under any stress? Stress can also contribute to egg laying issues.

Good advice about the treats. We give them frozen peas pretty regularly. - My boyfriend in particular enjoys spoiling them as is evident by how they flock to him.

They do have free access to grit and shells vut i don't see them eating it ever. I could try the yogurt but since they've never had it before they will probably turn their bills up at it. They are pretty finiky things but i could throw some dandilion leaves in or under the oyster shells and they'll go after that quixk enough im sure.

Any thoughts about her loss of voice? Im hoping shes just eating bugs that bite back or something but i doubt ill be that lucky.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Yeah ducks can be pretty leery of new things.
I have no advice for the loss of the voice.
But, found this. Amiga is pretty knowledgeable with regards to ducks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-lost-her-voice.888783/
And this regarding pet birds:
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/cause-for-concern-voicesound-changes-in-birds/
And this talking about the loss of a duck's voice and that the most common cause is aspergillosis:
https://www.saczoo.org/2014/01/the-duck-with-a-broken-whistle/#:~:text=In birds with a voice,a fungal infection called aspergillosis.&text=Despite a very thorough work,it must be a duck.
If aspergillosis it could affect the egg laying too since it's a fungal infection. I'm thinking maybe it's time to see a vet.

 

[Jlw0903]

Yeah ducks can be pretty leery of new things.
I have no advice for the loss of the voice.
But, found this. Amiga is pretty knowledgeable with regards to ducks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/duck-lost-her-voice.888783/
And this regarding pet birds:
https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/cause-for-concern-voicesound-changes-in-birds/
And this talking about the loss of a duck's voice and that the most common cause is aspergillosis:
https://www.saczoo.org/2014/01/the-duck-with-a-broken-whistle/#:~:text=In birds with a voice,a fungal infection called aspergillosis.&text=Despite a very thorough work,it must be a duck.
If aspergillosis it could affect the egg laying too since it's a fungal infection. I'm thinking maybe it's time to see a vet.

Thanks! I appreciate the resources. My vet hasnt gotten back to me yet but i do plan to bring her in.

 

[Jlw0903]

Update: she went to the vet this morning (she has since returned to normal). Vet didnt have much to say for her voice besides trying to get her in when shes still squeaky to see if he can see any inflamation but he didnt seem overly concerned about it since she is otherwise in perfect health as far as he could tell. (Hes a more practical type vet and wasnt about to run a ton of tests on her)
He was more concerned about the quality of her eggs.

So i will contine to do the best i can to give my babies the best life possible and make sure they have everything i need. He discouraged the use of colloidal silver which is something that i had read often from poultry keepers was helpful.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good to hear she is back to normal.