meyerc06
Songster
Today during my early morning duckling check, I discovered that Mae, one of my almost 5-week-old Pekin ducklings, had passed away during the night. She seemed absolutely fine yesterday and when I put them to bed last night. I’m absolutely heartbroken and trying to figure out what could have happened, and how I can prevent it from happening to my remaining 3.
I found her with her legs and neck outstretched, and she was on her back. She was still warm when I found her, but the others had been cuddling around her so it may have been from their body hea
She had been panting a little on and off, but they all had at some point. I found that it seemed to start when the temperature hit above 70 degrees in their brooder, and they stopped panting after I put a fan nearby to cool the space.
Before bed, I had cleaned the brooder, filled the water and food dishes, and turned out the lights. They haven’t had the Brinsea in the brooder for the last week because they seemed to have outgrown it. When I found her this morning, the food dish was almost empty (except for some remaining brewer’s yeast that had fallen to the bottom), one water dish was empty (and had been pooped in), and the other waterer (a gallon water container with a hole cut in the side) was low but still about 1/3 full. I’d recently removed a third water dish because it was rather shallow and seemed to serve no purpose other than to get knocked over and wet the bedding.
Could she have choked on the food perhaps? Any ideas on what could have happened to my sweet girl?
I found her with her legs and neck outstretched, and she was on her back. She was still warm when I found her, but the others had been cuddling around her so it may have been from their body hea
She had been panting a little on and off, but they all had at some point. I found that it seemed to start when the temperature hit above 70 degrees in their brooder, and they stopped panting after I put a fan nearby to cool the space.
Before bed, I had cleaned the brooder, filled the water and food dishes, and turned out the lights. They haven’t had the Brinsea in the brooder for the last week because they seemed to have outgrown it. When I found her this morning, the food dish was almost empty (except for some remaining brewer’s yeast that had fallen to the bottom), one water dish was empty (and had been pooped in), and the other waterer (a gallon water container with a hole cut in the side) was low but still about 1/3 full. I’d recently removed a third water dish because it was rather shallow and seemed to serve no purpose other than to get knocked over and wet the bedding.
Could she have choked on the food perhaps? Any ideas on what could have happened to my sweet girl?
Without a necropsy done on the duckling coming up with a confident diagnosis is going to be almost impossible, there are too many possibilities. Do you still have the body?
