Duck suddenly died while I was at work.

[Backyardduckdude]

Hello all,

First post here. I have a flock of 12 ducks and upon coming home from work I noticed my ducks acting a little odd so I went up to check on them. I then saw one of my Pekins dead on the ground. I’m not sure what could have caused this or if I should be alarmed that something might happen to the other ducks. The only red flag I can think of was last night when I went to put everyone up in there house there was one Pekin that had not gone in the house and I had to wrangle her in. They have plenty of food and water at all times and they are young so I’m definitely a bit worried. They just hit 3 months old. I’m racking my brain about this and mostly trying to see if this is normal or how I could have prevented this.

Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Your state poultry lab can do a necropsy and tell you exactly what killed the bird.
What state are you in?

 

[Backyardduckdude]

I’m in VA. Very new to this all. Dreamed of homesteading and am finally doing it so, I’m definitely stressed about this!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I’m in VA. Very new to this all. Dreamed of homesteading and am finally doing it so, I’m definitely stressed about this!

VDACS Harrisonburg Regional Animal Health Laboratory
261 Mt. Clinton Pike
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802-2551
Phone: 540-209-9130

 

[happy duck]

Did anything get into your coop? Where there injuries to the duck or the other ducks in the coop? Where the other ducks acting stressed and really startled or just confused? I am guessing you let your ducks free range(as you where saying you could not get one of your ducks into the coop) did you spray any kind of fertilizer or weed killer around that your ducks could have gotten into? Sorry there are so many Q's I know it can be stressful just these are some great Q's that can help us get to the bottom of this.

 

[Backyardduckdude]

They were not free ranging today, they were just in their very large pen. The other ducks just seemed off-or mourning sort of. Very weird mood. Nothing has changed, fertilizers, pesticides, nothing different. All the same. Everyone else seems ok.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very sorry for your loss. Only way to know would be to have a necropsy done. Sometimes we lose them and there isn’t an explanation that we can see.

 

[Duckworth]

I’m sorry for your loss.

 

[happy duck]

They were not free ranging today, they were just in their very large pen. The other ducks just seemed off-or mourning sort of. Very weird mood. Nothing has changed, fertilizers, pesticides, nothing different. All the same. Everyone else seems ok.

Ok...

 

[danceswithronin]

Not sure what happened, but reading several of these "mystery death" posts on this forum has about convinced me to invest in a wireless camera setup for my run/coop to keep an eye on things.