Duckling panting and breathing quickly

[hunnybee]

I have two 3-week old ducklings which I currently believe are muscovy hybrids. One duck whom was named Raven has an overheating issue.. all the time. Whether it be sitting alone or cuddling on me, (I believe he) is always panting with very warm legs. Despite this, I have them both on my chest right now and when I try to cool him off he refuses to do anything but snuggle into my neck. I'm not sure what the signs of an infection are or what to do about them but our other duckling Robin is totally fine and has no issues with that whatsoever. If it's just a heat issue, what should I do to make him more comfortable? How can I make sure he doesn't overheat while he's sitting on me?

 

[CindyinSD]

Welcome to BYC! I don't know the answer. Funny that the one seems hot while the other seems okay. Lets ask @Miss Lydia and @honanbm .

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Welcome to BYC! This is actually quite common with waterfowl, most likely it is caused by heat, because if it were respiratory-related by now other symptoms would be noticeable like eye discharge, drolling, lethargy, sneezing, coughing, and or loss of appetite.

I've told a few people this, if you want to post a video you can, but to the point, bird's that pant because of heat have more rapid breaths, they are expelling heat, besides this, they look healthy, a bird with a respiratory problem would be breathing more slow and heavy trying hard to get air in and along with this you'd see many other symptoms as I mentioned above.

As for why this specific bird is panting, I know for sure each bird has its own heat tolerance I've even seen it with my flock.

Continue to monitor her waste, behavior, and if you want weight in grams. Sounds like she'd be a little happier in a cooler environment, and with a pool to play in to cool off.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Just checking into see how your bird is doing. Updates to these threads are very useful for people in the future experiencing the same problem.