Duck Lethargic, Shaking, and Refusing Food/Water - HELP!

[Humble Shack Farm]

We've got a young (about 14 weeks old, not laying yet) female runner duck who is very lethargic (hiding, standing away from the flock, standing hunched up, not walking around with everyone, not foraging), shaking like she's cold (outside temp is 64 and headed towards 82), and refusing food and water. Her voice sounds different as well. Symptoms started two days ago. We can't find anything wrong with her on the outside, crop just feels empty, no predator attacks.

We started giving her Nutri-drench or molasses and watermelon, but today she is refusing those things too. Today we gave her a dropper of electrolytes with probiotics, but that's all we could get her to swallow.

She is currently in a large brooder box under a heat lamp (which she seems to like) with one other female duck for company.

We have antibiotics on the way but we had to order them and we're worried they may not get here in time to be of use.

What else can we do? What could be making her sick?

She's the one on the top right in this picture. Videos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zEJZ2jhjq9Ab7Lsf7

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

Looking for advice from some experts please.

BirdsBeesTrees
Miss Lydia
Isaac 0

 

[Quatie]

If you have supplies for tube feeding, that will hopefully give you sometime to treat the duck. Tubing in warm fluids will help warm her body as well. Here is a link on how to tube feed
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tube-feeding-ducks-updated-5-7-2020.1211994/

I would also try giving her some activated charcoal just in case she ate something toxic. It won't hurt anything if that is not the case.

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

If you have supplies for tube feeding, that will hopefully give you sometime to treat the duck. Tubing in warm fluids will help warm her body as well. Here is a link on how to tube feed
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tube-feeding-ducks-updated-5-7-2020.1211994/

I would also try giving her some activated charcoal just in case she ate something toxic. It won't hurt anything if that is not the case.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I don't have supplies for tube feeding or any activated charcoal right now. Maybe we can get some.

 

[Quatie]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I don't have supplies for tube feeding or any activated charcoal right now. Maybe we can get some.

The activated charcoal you can get a TSC or you can probably find it at a pharmacy. It is used on people as well.

Tube feeding supplies can be hard to find sometimes. You can use aquarium tubing if you can't get anything else. You will need to melt the end so it is sharp going down. I would search online and see what people have in stock or give them call.

I would also order a catheter online so you have one later.

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

We had someone suggest that she might be egg bound and that we treat her for that with an epsom salt bath. Thoughts?

 

[Quatie]

We had someone suggest that she might be egg bound and that we treat her for that with an epsom salt bath. Thoughts?

I thought that too but 14 weeks is a bit young for her to start laying eggs. You would also give her lots of calcium. Calcium gluconate is the best one for egg bound. A warm bath is good enough. And leave her in there as long as possible. I am just not sure that would be the issue at her age. I had one start laying at 16 weeks, so maybe it is possible, but unlikely.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

At 3.5 months she is too young to be egg bound. Runner ducks do not sexually mature until 6-7 months. A few questions to better help assess the situation.

-What feed is she on?
-On a daily basis what else is she being given treat wise?
-In their area are there any poisonsous plants, recently pesticides used, anything small plastic or metal like that she could have eaten?
-Have you checked her mouth for any signs of swelling or obstructions?

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

At 3.5 months she is too young to be egg bound. Runner ducks do not sexually mature until 6-7 months. A few questions to better help assess the situation.

-What feed is she on?
-On a daily basis what else is she being given treat wise?
-In their area are there any poisonsous plants, recently pesticides used, anything small plastic or metal like that she could have eaten?
-Have you checked her mouth for any signs of swelling or obstructions?

Thank you for your reply. She has been on a non-medicated pelleted duck feed from tractor supply with occasional treats of fresh fruits and vegetables. The ducks do get to free range so it is possible she found and ate something unusual that we wouldn't know about. Unfortunately, we have decided she is sick enough that we need to put her down so she doesn't continue to suffer. She is bleeding from her eyes and nose now; definitely not better like we had hoped she would be.

 

[m0ther_g00se]

That's really unfortunate, I'm sorry for you. At least she won't be in pain anymore.
I know that for cases of mysterious deaths some owners will give their bird to someone to determine cause of death so they can prevent danger in the rest of the flock, assuming it is something preventable, but I've never done that so I'm not quite sure how that would happen, procedure-wise.