Duck not eating, appears weak and "tired"

[McCluckster]

Hello there!

I have this small Indian runner duck, who we call Mama duck, who is the survivor of a predator attack that took her leg. We've been helping her since she's lost her leg, and she does a pretty dang good job at getting around. Recently, however, she has seem less interested in food, and more interested in trying to "stand".
She'll drink water, but she hasn't been coming out on her own from the coop, and she isnt moving or flapping with her wings like she usually does. She seems tired, and when held she felt skinny. I force fed her some chick starter and egg yolks yesterday, and today shes eaten a tiny bit on her own.

Shes very important to us, and we love her after everything we've done to keep her alive. Is this a sign of sickness, depression, egg bound? She's roughly 6/7 months old, hasn't laid an egg, and she lost her leg about 2.5 months ago.
(Picture is of her a week ago, when she first started exhibiting symptoms).
We have her inside and isolated currently.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Poor sweet little thing she’s adorable. I think the symptoms you mentioned could be signs of her being in pain. did the weather just get colder where you live? when you force fed her yesterday did you use a feeding tube? It’s very important that they eat. they can go down very quickly from not eating.
As far as being egg bound, have you seen her laying sort of flattish on the ground and pumping her tail like she’s trying to get something out? You said she’s been trying to stand more so I don’t think egg bound is the issue right now. When I tube fed my injured runner duck I used. Kaytee baby bird food.
i’m wondering about when her predator attack happened and did you nurse her back to health yourself or did you see a vet then? Does she have any part of her leg left under there is there like a little stomp or something that you can inspect for any signs of redness or warmth or anything else unusual? I’m going to tag some people that will be more knowledgeable than me in this matter @Miss Lydia @ruthhope in the meantime, start giving her a good vitamin mixture in her water such as rooster booster poultry cell and make sure she eats or you must tube feed

 

[Jenbirdee]

I’ve been thinking about your duck while I was doing my morning duck chores, and wondering if you should go ahead and give her some calcium gluconate liquid 1ml orally just in case she’s egg bound since she’s seven months and laid no eggs yet it won’t hurt to give her the calcium even if she’s not egg bound. Also, putting her in a small tub of warm Epson salt, not hot, but lukewarm water with Epson salt to soak might help her feel better she could be achy. But don’t let her drink the Epson salt water. I don’t know if you’ve ever given medicine or vitamins or by syringe to your birds yet but this article explains how.,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

 

[McCluckster]

I’ve been thinking about your duck while I was doing my morning duck chores, and wondering you should go ahead and give her some calcium gluconate liquid 1ml orally just in case she’s egg bound since she’s seven months and laid no eggs yet it won’t hurt to give her the calcium even if she’s not egg bound. Also, putting her in a small tub of warm Epson salt, not hot, but lukewarm water with Epson salt to soak might help her feel better she could be achy. But don’t let her drink the Epson salt water. I don’t know if you’ve ever given medicine or vitamins or by syringe to your birds yet but this article explains how.,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Thank you for responding with so much detail!

I bathed her last night in warm water and Epsom salt - she did get more lively and more energetic after that. She also began to eat a little bit more.
Some information I forgot to mention is that shes been pooping noticeably less, so that's why I'm thinking she's egg bound. I fed her some layer feed, scratch, and game feed and the layer feed is calcium coated, as I have no calcium on hand at the moment.

The wheater did get colder, but it's been gradually getting colder, and the other 2 ducks seem to be fine. Although their heavier, males, and not low to the ground like she is. Even if it's cold she prefers trying to stand and swim in the water. We were wondering if maybe she's experiencing depression or ptsd? But we're not 100% sure on that.

When I fed her I used a liquid chick starter mix with egg yolks and water, and put it into a heavily cleaned out tie-dye bottle. We had to snip the tip so the food would come out, but we only gave her a bit. After that she drank water normally and then the next day began to express more interest into the feed we were offering her.

Unfortunately we couldn't afford a vet here, so my dad had to cauterize her leg. Her leg was fully broken so we knew it wasn't going to heal and it would just make it worse for her. Whatever had nipped her fully turned her leg around! I feel terrible that she had to experience that. What's left is a little bit of a "nub", which doesnt appear out of the ordinary and is healed. She also doesnt experience as much pain around the nub so it seems much more recovered.

As for anything else she seems to be doing a lot better than the past few days. I'm hoping she fully recovers, and it's not something internal that's fighting her right now.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Thank you for responding with so much detail!

I bathed her last night in warm water and Epsom salt - she did get more lively and more energetic after that. She also began to eat a little bit more.
Some information I forgot to mention is that shes been pooping noticeably less, so that's why I'm thinking she's egg bound. I fed her some layer feed, scratch, and game feed and the layer feed is calcium coated, as I have no calcium on hand at the moment.

The wheater did get colder, but it's been gradually getting colder, and the other 2 ducks seem to be fine. Although their heavier, males, and not low to the ground like she is. Even if it's cold she prefers trying to stand and swim in the water. We were wondering if maybe she's experiencing depression or ptsd? But we're not 100% sure on that.

When I fed her I used a liquid chick starter mix with egg yolks and water, and put it into a heavily cleaned out tie-dye bottle. We had to snip the tip so the food would come out, but we only gave her a bit. After that she drank water normally and then the next day began to express more interest into the feed we were offering her.

Unfortunately we couldn't afford a vet here, so my dad had to cauterize her leg. Her leg was fully broken so we knew it wasn't going to heal and it would just make it worse for her. Whatever had nipped her fully turned her leg around! I feel terrible that she had to experience that. What's left is a little bit of a "nub", which doesnt appear out of the ordinary and is healed. She also doesnt experience as much pain around the nub so it seems much more recovered.

As for anything else she seems to be doing a lot better than the past few days. I'm hoping she fully recovers, and it's not something internal that's fighting her right now.

Wow, I’m so glad she’s doing better!! yay! I actually have a couple of fawn and white runners myself. as far as calcium goes most of us use flaked or crushed oyster shells in a dish on the side and the girls will take what they need. The boys will leave it alone. but for emergency situations when you suspect a hen is egg bound, the extra boost of calcium helps them get the egg out . you can order durvet liquid calcium gluconate online or you can give her a calcium citrate with D3 pill, but those are pretty big and kind of scary to put in their mouth. I’ve done it and they spit it out a few times before they swallowed it. The chickens are much easier than the ducks with those big pills. I have never given a bird a Tums, but I keep hearing knowledgeable folk on here saying that you can. the epsom and warm water soaks are also helpful to get an egg out.