Duck Weight/ Keel Question

[PicklesMom]

Hello duck friends,
I have 5 ducks, 2 Pekins and 3 Swedish, who are just over a year old. We've recently gone from free feeding a Nutrena Duck Pellet to 3-4 feedings of Mazuri Maintenance daily, largely due to a rat issue in the run (argh). By my calculation based on what the bag says they should be getting about 6 cups of that feed per day total, but they definitely eat more - though the 5 females are also still laying almost every day. On the weekend when we're home they also free range several house a day, and I give them lettuce or other veggies most days.

I try to check their feet every night after they are out and when I picked up one of the Swedish girls the other day I was surprised that I could feel her keel bone and then realized I could on another Swedish as well.

I've seen the keel score chart shared here, but I can't really tell from that if or how much I should be able to feel their bone? It's also possible they have all been obese up until now, and when we lost one to egg yolk peritonitis earlier this year, the vet did comment on fatty liver on the necropsy and suggested she was a bit too heavy. They all act perfectly happy, no abnormal poops, etc.

Thanks for your help as I try to keep these goofballs alive. They sure do keep me on my toes!

 

[Quatie]

I haven't worried to much about my ducks being slightly overweight. Pekins are my one exception, but they seem to not know when to stop eating. Some of my ducks have been able to put on weight just from excessive foraging. It is also nice to have that extra weight if they go broody. A couple of mine have lost a bit of weight when they have gone broody.

If the keel is too pointy and hard, the duck is underweight. Normally the keel should be almost flush with their muscles. That is definitely something to keep an eye on. It could be something as simple as other ducks are not letting them eat as much. From my experience, Pekins will often pig out on food. I would watch them when you feed them next time and see if your lighter weight duck is hanging back from the food or not eating as much as the others.

Another possibility is that you are giving them too many veggies. It is recommended not to give any animal treats exceeding more than 10% of their diet. If the swede is filling up on veggies instead of feed, she may be getting too little protein. It may be nothing is going, but it is definitely something to at least keep an eye on. Since ducks are prey animals they tend to hide their illnesses, and it could be a sign something is going on.

 

[PicklesMom]

I haven't worried to much about my ducks being slightly overweight. Pekins are my one exception, but they seem to not know when to stop eating. Some of my ducks have been able to put on weight just from excessive foraging. It is also nice to have that extra weight if they go broody. A couple of mine have lost a bit of weight when they have gone broody.

If the keel is too pointy and hard, the duck is underweight. Normally the keel should be almost flush with their muscles. That is definitely something to keep an eye on. It could be something as simple as other ducks are not letting them eat as much. From my experience, Pekins will often pig out on food. I would watch them when you feed them next time and see if your lighter weight duck is hanging back from the food or not eating as much as the others.

Another possibility is that you are giving them too many veggies. It is recommended not to give any animal treats exceeding more than 10% of their diet. If the swede is filling up on veggies instead of feed, she may be getting too little protein. It may be nothing is going, but it is definitely something to at least keep an eye on. Since ducks are prey animals they tend to hide their illnesses, and it could be a sign something is going on.

Thanks, I don't think it's too much veggies (only a small human-sized bowl between them all) and I haven't seen the others pushing her out of the way of the bowl. I was actually a bit worried about the drake because he tends to stand back and let the girls go first - and he's still quite fat!

I might pick up a scale to weigh them with. I can't trust my own judgment, I make myself crazy thinking "am I feeling this more than I felt it yesterday?".

 

[HollowOfWisps]

The keel bone score is somewhat similar to feeling a dog's ribs. With dogs you should be able to feel the ribs, but there should be a layer of muscle in-between them and not feel like there's only bones. With the keel bone you want to be able to feel the bone, but you should also be able to feel muscle on either side of the home. It should not feel like there is only bone and an unpadded chest cavity otherwise they are underweight and vise versa if you cannot feel the keel bone then they are overweight.

 

[PicklesMom]

The keel bone score is somewhat similar to feeling a dog's ribs. With dogs you should be able to feel the ribs, but there should be a layer of muscle in-between them and not feel like there's only bones. With the keel bone you want to be able to feel the bone, but you should also be able to feel muscle on either side of the home. It should not feel like there is only bone and an unpadded chest cavity otherwise they are underweight and vise versa if you cannot feel the keel bone then they are overweight.

Thanks! I wish I had a bunch of ducks around to palpate. Just over here thinking "Is this sharp? Or just a bone?"
I'm wondering if what I'm feeling is actually a healthy duck now, since I can't really feel the Pekins' keel bones at all. I definitely feel some kind of padding on either side, not just like ribs. We have an elderly chicken (10+) who I suspect has a tumor and probably needs to be euthanized before winter and they definitely don't feel like her.

 

[KaleIAm]

If you Google, "avian body condition score," you will get a bunch of diagrams that might help you.

I have always been able to easily palpate the keel bone of all my ducks. A couple months ago both my ducks went to the vet for full preventative work ups. Exams, radiographs, bloodwork. They were declared healthy.