Duck lost her voice

[yoie]

I have a four year old cayuga duck, the past few days I have noticed that when she goes to quack not a sound comes out. She has been completely normal otherwise, eating, drinking, dabbling and doing ducky things. The only changes that I have noticed is the past two days she has not laid an egg, but she isn't an everyday layer. And her best duckie friend doesn't hang out with just her anymore. We introduced new ducklings to the group about a month ago and they are all getting along great. Is it just age catching up with her? She also has an old injury from two years ago when she survived a fox attack, gashed up her chest, neck and back. Anywhere she was bitten turned her feathers white. Sorry for rambling, just wondering what would cause the loss of voice.

 

[Amiga]

We just had another case of laryngitis yesterday that cleared up overnight. Hmmm.

Some causes of loss of voice:

gapeworm
virus
bacterial infection
injury from external force
injury from internal - something she swallowed

If she seems to be breathing just fine and behaving normally, I think gapeworm is low on the likelihood list.
Viruses often pass with a little time, a bacterial infection, if it is far enough along, would need oral antibiotics. A vet would need to help with diagnosis and treatment.

Do you have drakes? I have seen my drake hold a duck's neck over the edge of a rock, a limb, the edge of the kiddie pool. That could affect the throat.

I also have ducks who love to swallow hickory nuts and acorns. Pretty benign, really - sadly some ducks swallow hardware and that has a bunch of worries associated with it.

Feel her throat, gently check her abdomen for egg binding (just in case, and a separate issue, I think). I would add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of overnight drinking water for a few days. And when Carmella had laryngitis -and the vet assured us it was not gapeworm, I put several drops of colloidal silver in her overnight water and the next day her voice started coming back. This is not a scientific experiment, it might have just been coincidence. But the forum is for sharing.

 

[yoie]

Thanks for the reply Amiga, we have two young and up and coming drakes, but they are too young right now to do anything, lol. Though, my other pekin girl and her like to pretend breed all the time. I have checked her all over and haven't found anything out of the ordinary on her. She has a little more voice this morning, but it is very raspy sounding.

 

[Amiga]

I would offer ACV in the water if you don't already. Ought not to hurt.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Any news about your duck?

I have a younger duck, about 2 months old, and she always had the funniest sounding quack. If a regular quack can be compared to a flute, my sweet little blue runner sounds like a trombone (if that's not the most ridiculous analogy, I don't know what is...). Then within the last week, she's only been able to squeak and make very quiet noises; she's lost her voice. I'm 99% sure she is female, not just because I ordered her sexed, but because she was clearly quacking for more than a month. She's acting normal otherwise.

I haven't seen anyone try to mount her.

I'll do the ACV, but does anyone have ideas as to what could be going on?

Thanks in advance!