Duckling has dry skin peeling and walking backwards while dragging bill on ground in a squiggle pattern

[wannabefarm girl]

Hi! I'm a newbie to raising birds and have three 2 week old ducks.

Three days ago I noticed the Khaki Campbell was not quite as peppy and one of her eyes looked a little swollen or something. It wasn't quite as open as the other. I tried washing it gently with some warm water, but it was a bit worse the next day and seemed to have spread to the other eye a bit.
That next day she seemed to be breathing a little heavier for a bit and she would open and close her mouth repeatedly. The breathing seemed to get better after a while, but by evening I noticed that sometimes when she would try to walk instead of going forward she would walk backwards while dragging her bill along the ground in a squiggly pattern. After observing her quiet a bit she doesn't seem to be drinking as much as the other ducklings and has also seemed to be eating a bit less now as well.

At some point over the last three days I noticed that her and the Runner bothe had a weird patch of dry skin that looked like it was pulling away from their necks with the down feathers on it. The Apple yard also seems to have the drying skin, but only just a little. The other two both have the dryness completely around their necks and bits have been coming off a little. Tonight I could see that the eye condition seems to be related to the dry skin thing because I can see some drying around the eyes and other places on their faces. The runners eyes seem a little bit less open now and I see a distinct dry spot pulling away under one of her eyes.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? I can't find any of these symptoms listed in my duck book nore online.

I'd be greatful for any advice or direction.

Thank you!

 

[ruthhope]

Hi! I'm a newbie to raising birds and have three 2 week old ducks.

Three days ago I noticed the Khaki Campbell was not quite as peppy and one of her eyes looked a little swollen or something. It wasn't quite as open as the other. I tried washing it gently with some warm water, but it was a bit worse the next day and seemed to have spread to the other eye a bit.
That next day she seemed to be breathing a little heavier for a bit and she would open and close her mouth repeatedly. The breathing seemed to get better after a while, but by evening I noticed that sometimes when she would try to walk instead of going forward she would walk backwards while dragging her bill along the ground in a squiggly pattern. After observing her quiet a bit she doesn't seem to be drinking as much as the other ducklings and has also seemed to be eating a bit less now as well.

At some point over the last three days I noticed that her and the Runner bothe had a weird patch of dry skin that looked like it was pulling away from their necks with the down feathers on it. The Apple yard also seems to have the drying skin, but only just a little. The other two both have the dryness completely around their necks and bits have been coming off a little. Tonight I could see that the eye condition seems to be related to the dry skin thing because I can see some drying around the eyes and other places on their faces. The runners eyes seem a little bit less open now and I see a distinct dry spot pulling away under one of her eyes.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? I can't find any of these symptoms listed in my duck book nore online.

I'd be greatful for any advice or direction.

Thank you!

Please post photos.

What are you feeding the ducklings? What is their bedding and what temperature is the brooder, now and earlier in their lives?

Are they biting each other at all?

 

[wannabefarm girl]

Thank you both for replying. I got some video and pictures and will try to post them tonight.

 

[wannabefarm girl]

This is what the skin is looking like on the Silver Appleyard. She doesn't really seem to have any other symptoms just yet.
The brown one is a Runner. A lot of the dry skin came off over night.

If you zoom I you should be able to see really good detail. Their skin around the eyes and neck kind of look like really bad cradle cap.

 

[wannabefarm girl]

Im trying to upload the video of the Campbell walking funny. If it work what happens is right at the very beginning of the video. She's not doing it as much now so it was hard for me to catch it.

The video didn't work. I'll try again.

 

[AshVau22]

I've never seen anything like this. Almost looks like a possible bacterial infection. What is the brooder set up like? What feed are u feeding? Do they have access to swim?

 

[AshVau22]

I'm sure the baby is itchy all over and that may be the reason for dragging the head to itch. Have you check over for mites/lice?

 

[AshVau22]

The video didn't work. I'll try again.

I think the only way to upload video is to post on YouTube and share the link here. I've never done it but I think that's how you do it.

 

[wannabefarm girl]

I've never seen anything like this. Almost looks like a possible bacterial infection. What is the brooder set up like? What feed are u feeding? Do they have access to swim?

So, we think it may be caused by mold. When we couldn't figure out what was going on we changed our the brooder box.

We had them in Coco peat with burlap on top initially. We would change the burlap as often as it looked dirty, at least twice a day. We cleaned the whole thing twice a day as well. previously to this we had done the same thing with chicks and everything went well.
But when this started happening and we couldn't figure it out I decided that I wou change the bedding just in case (I couldn't tell any indicator of mold - it didn't seem very wet, there was no smell). So I put them in a new box with paper towels on the ground.

Then I set the other brooder box outside for a day or two and then dumped the bedding out in the garden. When I dumped it I could smell a mild sent of mold. So, we think that's maybe what the problem was.

We had checked it every day for wetness and smell, we even had some charcoal mixed in, but until it sat outside for a bit I couldn't smell anything at all.


Their feed is a good balanced feed mix with all the necessary vitamins. It has niacin, probiotics etc...

For the brooder:
Like I said, we used Coco peat with burlap on top. We have a heat plate and a mason jar waterer. We just used a plastic lid to put their feed in and keep it filled. We also were giving them tiny cut up fresh greens as recommended from the book Storie's Guide to Raising Ducks.

Access to Swim:

Yes. We were giving them an opportunity to swim every day, and at first they loved it and would swim at least a bit. Once this all started, though they haven't wanted to swim. I've tried bathing them a few times with plain water and once with a little Epsom salt in water per someone's recommendation. They really don't want to swim now and they won't really clean their faces anymore now.

 

[wannabefarm girl]

I'm sure the baby is itchy all over and that may be the reason for dragging the head to itch. Have you check over for mites/lice?

Yes, I have checked for mites and lice, but I can't find anything.

The dragging and walking backwards is involuntary. She doesn't want to do it. It's like a spasm or something. It was so bad for a while one day that she couldn't make it to the food and water without help.