Duck EMERGENCY, PLEASE HELP!

[RavenStorm]

Symptoms: uncoordination, white foam in corner of the eyes, holding the wings out from the body (as if she was hot, but the weather here has been cold). She has not laid an egg for a week, but she is not egg-bound as that was one of the first things I checked her for. She is eating and drinking normally, but she and my other duck have been finding ways to attack my brussel sprout plants and have been having very greenish poop as a result.

Last week I received 5 wild mallard ducklings to rehab until they are ready to go off on their own, but I have been fastidious about quarantine and not letting them have physical contact with the other ducks though they can see each other through a piece of glass. I have noticed a lot of wild birds in our backyard recently going after the scattered feed that ducks tend to leave around. I have suspicions that a rat might be also going after the scattered feed in the duck run at night.

The feed store is all out of any antibiotics till Tuesday, but even then we aren't sure what she has so we don't know what to give her. I have separated her from my other duck, kept her in a warm area of my garage, but on my feed store guy's advice I have not given her ad-lib water and feed and I will be taking some to her in frequent intervals so that she doesn't get wet.

Any ideas as to what this might be? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[ChickBond 007]

I wish I knew how to help you!

 

[RavenStorm]

Thanks ChickMom for the bump anyway.

I was really scared that we were going to lose her last night. She wasn't able to stand at all and just slept on the floor of her pen, when her favorite sleeping mode is the flamingo position. When I did coax her to come eat and drink (some hard-boiled egg chopped up with her feed with two waters: a deep, clean electrolyte water to clean her face with and a shallow dish of warm water with brewer's yeast) she was stumbling and falling. I got scared mostly though because when she did make it to the food and water she barely nibbled at the food when she is a notorious piggy. She drank plenty of both waters though.

Cut to this morning: She is completely coordinated again (well, as much as she can be as she was a klutz even when healthy). Her voice is coming back (she is usually a talker but last night she was only periodically making very low, short honks instead of her loud quacks). She is eating and drinking more. She is calling out for our other duck because she hates to be alone. No more foamy bubbles in her eyes. I'm going to keep her in quarantine for a little while though before risking any infection of my other duck.

I did think of something else though that I don't know if it is a factor: because the ducklings I'm rehabing are wild I have been giving them duckling feed with amprolium in it. I didn't even think about it at the time, but when I was refilling the ducklings feed dish outside I spilled some of the bag and this little piggy gobbled it up. I know that the medication is ok for the baby ducks, but it didn't cross my mind that maybe it might be harmful to an adult. Any ideas?

 

[MNmommy]

I'm glad she is doing better. I hope she gets back to her normal self quickly

 

[froggie71]

I don't know about the foaming eyes, or the other symptoms, but when I had a duckling who was wheezing in the fall, I did a lot of research online about ducks and illnesses (well what could causes wheezing) and there really wasn't a lot of info specifically about waterfowl. I think that is so frustrating. Lots of info on poultry, but not waterfowl. I did see terramycin was ok to give ducks, but that they were trying to do away with it and some places weren't selling it anymore and that they were changing to agramycin. Also that you should not give antibiotics to laying ducks. I hated to see our duck failing in health, but I also did not want to spend $150 just to walk into a vet office that specialized in birds. We were lucky, we brought our Michaela inside, gave a steam shower which helped relieve the wheezing for a time, we found the terramycin and gave to her as per instructions of the bag. She improved and was able to return to the coop with everyone else. Anyway, I'd be careful of giving an antibiotic to an adult duck.
I'm glad your duck is feeling better.