Duck is (was?) off a bit

[spiritbrook]

My 12 week old Khaki is off a bit this morning. I'm not sure if she hurt herself or is ill. I realize that I have no clue what the vital signs, skin tone, and whatever is are for a duck. I don't know what "egg bound" looks like (although this duck is too young I think)

I love how they splash and bathe in their tub when I put fresh water in it. The activity usually includes spinning, splashing, flapping, and then springing into the air and flying a short ways. The flying a short ways concerns me as the fence is 2 foot, but the tub is in the middle of the circle and about 15-20 feet from the fences. So their play launches should put them short of the edges. Today they saw me coming and Sarah, the ill one, jumped out of the tub and then took flight, flying over the divider fence to near where I was (none will admit to liking me, I'm just a treat hauler) I tried to put her back and she ran towards the door panel between the sections and climb/flapped - mostly flapped - right on over. Bother. Now I need to figure out if I should trim wings or simply consider it an "oops" on the duck's part. On that light I was wondering if trimming just one duck might work to keep them all in, although dumb Mikey is likely to wander off just because he doesn't have a clue.

So, later on I look out and Mikey and Betsy are floating in the tub and Sarah has her head down one of the holes that are in the cinder block. Remember, Betsy is the one who was afraid to get into the tub, she is usually the one of the ground. Sarah's body sticks out from shoulders back and her wing tips are touching the ground. Miss Prissy never lets anything except her feet and bill touch the mud, so I worry. I watch a while then go out and herd them into a corner with the help of my duck stick (bamboo excuse for a crook) and then catch Miss Sarah up as she runs past. Her ducking and dodging to stay out of reach is as per norm.

I inspect. I do my normal check of feathers for mites (they are molting - ugh), stretch out and admire her wonderful wings, check feet color (Sarah's are greenish, the others are orange - this is normal), heft her to feel her weight, poke at her breast bone to feel condition, poked at her personal area very gently to see if I can feel an egg bound. With that I realize I have no clue. I don't expect eggs until another month or so, but I have no idea what egg bound looks like. An acquaintance lost a beautiful Macaw to egg bound some months ago, I don't want to have that happen with any bird I own.

Currently I have witnessed Sarah in the tub briefly, but she is one who is usually in it constantly. She seems reluctant to hop up on the porch. Currently they are all preening. Sarah on the ground, Betsy on the porch, Mikey on the brick in the tub.

So, just what are duck's vital signs and how do I take them? How long to I wait before I really worry. In this case Sarah is just "off" and doing things different than her normal routine, maybe ducks just have weird days? Maybe she and Betsy had a tiff and she is sulking? I'd rather she didn't get worse, I had half a thought to put her in their pen so that she was isolated and could be quiet - but does that work with ducks? I even thought of setting her up in a small dog crate in my office so that I could watch her closer and perhaps she could rest. Sigh. She's just not herself. I don't want her to get worse.

 

[Debs Flock]

So...if I've followed along correctly (sleepy+reading sometimes don't mix well

), it's only her behavior that seems off?

I've read A LOT of stuff on here and I've never seen mention of taking a duck's vital signs. The main things to watch out for, that I'm aware of...is she eating, sleeping, eliminating, walking as normal and does she appear to be breathing okay as well as not losing weight.

I'll tag some others to get their opinions/input. You can tag other members by putting the @ sign in front of their user name:

@Amiga
@needlessjunk
@Miss Lydia
@JadeComputerGal

 

[Amiga]

Vets do actually take vitals - heart rate, temperature, body condition. I lift the ducks because I know what 3, 4, 5 pounds feels like. And I know what their keel bones should feel like.

Even a vet, however, can miss things because sometimes a duck just feels a little off. A virus, a mild infection, sadness can all look very much the same.

She could have bruised herself with her misadventures.

Any chance you could let her float in a lukewarm tub of water so you can watch her more closely?

 

[spiritbrook]

Her "off" behavior includes part of the time staying on the ground instead of in the tub where she normally is most the day. there at the base of the tub she lays with her head in the corner - it's not that hot out. Right now they are in the dog run. This is where they were raised and is all long, tender grass. Especially where it has been reseeded. I figure the treat will perhaps cheer her up. It will be interesting trying to get them to shift to their pen later.

 

[Amiga]

Some of the things ducks can get are respiratory infections (bacterial or fungal), egg-laying system problems - and those can start showing up at about her stage of development, internal infections.

Without a vet's help you could try some what-if treatment. Without being there, we cannot help, but you can go with your instincts.

She might need an antibiotic - we just don't know. Or she may just need some vitamins and some rest. Has it been nasty hot? Ducks can have trouble with heat.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I'm a bit overly sensitive to this right now, so I know what Amiga means. Much of it is about knowing your ducks and watching their behavior. If it seems wrong for that duck, something is wrong, but it's sometimes just the duck being out of sorts and not a physical issue.

Go with your instincts on this, always. Please do what Amiga suggested and get her to a vet if that's an option. Bring her inside and observe her behavior away from the others. We did that with one tonight. Her quack was odd to us, just didn't sound right. Hubby brought her in and we gave her a big water dish and she immediately started dabbling, dipping, shaking her head. She dislodged a piece of something green in the water dish, then started looking around like, "What the heck was that?" and resumed her normal quack. She waddled around the kitchen for a bit and then wanted to find out where the rest of her flock was. It probably wouldn't have been fatal regardless, but better safe than sorry.

 

[spiritbrook]

It hasn't been horrible hot, about 70s. The problem with the silly ducks is that they would rather hang in the tub than go into their shady pen. Also, yesterday I pulled a bit of down out of Sarah's nostril. Perhaps she has other wayward loose down? She has been the tidiest of the three with her preening. I wish molting would be over already, me and the ducks have had enough. Tonight they are in their house,locked up secure. If she still seems off tomorrow I will bring her in.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

It hasn't been horrible hot, about 70s. The problem with the silly ducks is that they would rather hang in the tub than go into their shady pen. Also, yesterday I pulled a bit of down out of Sarah's nostril. Perhaps she has other wayward loose down? She has been the tidiest of the three with her preening. I wish molting would be over already, me and the ducks have had enough. Tonight they are in their house,locked up secure. If she still seems off tomorrow I will bring her in.

You'll get varying opinions about the feathers stuck to the bill. I think it bothers us more than it does them. Personally, it drives me crazy. If we have one with feathers on its bill for long, I convince the hubby we have to get it and clean its bill off. He laughs, we catch it and clean it, and then it goes about its business. It's never going to hurt to clean the bill as long as your not forcing things into the nares, but the ducks usually look after this themselves as long as they have water deep enough to dip and swish their heads.

 

[spiritbrook]

Today she is about the same. I scooted the concrete "blob" which is shaped like a one-sided rock over next to the porch/patio. It is about half the height of the blocks but not quite the shape to fit snug up to it. She immediately started using it to gain access to the patio, and then on into the pool. She has been in and out of the pool most of the day since. I only caught her with her head inside of a block once. Yesterday (Thursday) I drove up to my mom's via the back roads (add 50 miles to the normal trip) and left them all in the back yard - aka dog's yard. It has a 6' fence and for now I don't have to worry about them leaving it. They were delighted. They had one of those low boxes like I have in the pen as their swim pool and it suited them fine. Perhaps she injured herself jumping up on the patio blocks when she was in a hurry. Well see what the day brings. Mikey just spend three minutes trying to figure out how to step OFF the patio onto the "rock". I have observed that they are not very graceful stepping off of things. He made it. Sarah steps briskly off. Betsy doesn't care.

 

[spiritbrook]

I think whatever it was is cured. Guess no. 1 is too much heat. But I am leaning with guess no. 2 which was she hurt herself going on and off the patio for the tub. I put a couple half size cement lumps up to the patio bricks and the ducks use them nearly every time to go up and as often when coming down - unless they fly out of the tub (grrr) I also left them in the side yard dog run with wonderful green grass and lots of shade the times I left and wasn't there to make sure they didn't accidentally fly over the fence like Sarah did that one time (grrr) They seem happy. I haven't seen Sarah hide even once and Betsy is the one on the patio if anyone is. Lately all three have been in the tub. Wonderful hubby hasn't complained too much about me emptying the 50 gal tub a few times a week to clean and refill it. But they love that clean water so much, and they look so very happy splashing, spinning, and flying out of the tub (grrr) just to race back and jump in again.