Duckling possibly choking, and not on food! HELP!

[Renee55]

I'm raising my ducklings in a brooder type setting and I suddenly heard my smallest Indian Runner screaming out, like the normal distress call for calling out in pain. I went over and noticed she was shaking her head in a manner like they do when shaking out food, repeatedly grooming and picking at the area right behind her head and off to the sides just in front of her wings, and just sort of running everywhere, repeating the following behaviors, acting distressed. I thought maybe something was stuck in the throat, so I helped massage the area to feel for any food lumps or maybe even a piece of pine shaving, and felt nothing. I tried dunking her head under the water for her to clear out her nose, even forced some water down her throat just in case my massaging didn't dislodge whatever was stuck, and even massaged her abdomen. She was still acting the same afterwards.
I'm thinking something may have gotten inhaled? So I even tried a very light compression on her chest cavity (making sure not to hurt her in the process), to see if I could force, with her own air coming back out, to dislodge whatever was in there, and still nothing. Still peeping in distress, still shaking her head and picking at the areas just behind her head, like the pain or whatever the problem is, seems to be somewhere in the chest area. I don't have the slightest clue what it might be, or even what to do, other than to watch my poor duckling be in distress . I want to help her, but I have no idea how and it's worrying me very much. She's able to breathe, but seems in pain somewhere. Is it possible it's just really bad gas? Or constipation? Or something else? Should I be worried? Do you think this is just a passing thing that, with time, will resolve itself? It was an all of a sudden thing, so I have no idea what happened, other than guessing that she's choking on something, but in her actual lungs, not stuck food. I seriously can't find ANYTHING on google...it's like the internet is devoid of duck information, it's annoying.

If anyone can help, please help! I don't want to wake up to another dead duck tomorrow like I had to deal with yesterday morning

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm raising my ducklings in a brooder type setting and I suddenly heard my smallest Indian Runner screaming out, like the normal distress call for calling out in pain. I went over and noticed she was shaking her head in a manner like they do when shaking out food, repeatedly grooming and picking at the area right behind her head and off to the sides just in front of her wings, and just sort of running everywhere, repeating the following behaviors, acting distressed. I thought maybe something was stuck in the throat, so I helped massage the area to feel for any food lumps or maybe even a piece of pine shaving, and felt nothing. I tried dunking her head under the water for her to clear out her nose, even forced some water down her throat just in case my massaging didn't dislodge whatever was stuck, and even massaged her abdomen. She was still acting the same afterwards.
I'm thinking something may have gotten inhaled? So I even tried a very light compression on her chest cavity (making sure not to hurt her in the process), to see if I could force, with her own air coming back out, to dislodge whatever was in there, and still nothing. Still peeping in distress, still shaking her head and picking at the areas just behind her head, like the pain or whatever the problem is, seems to be somewhere in the chest area. I don't have the slightest clue what it might be, or even what to do, other than to watch my poor duckling be in distress . I want to help her, but I have no idea how and it's worrying me very much. She's able to breathe, but seems in pain somewhere. Is it possible it's just really bad gas? Or constipation? Or something else? Should I be worried? Do you think this is just a passing thing that, with time, will resolve itself? It was an all of a sudden thing, so I have no idea what happened, other than guessing that she's choking on something, but in her actual lungs, not stuck food. I seriously can't find ANYTHING on google...it's like the internet is devoid of duck information, it's annoying.

If anyone can help, please help! I don't want to wake up to another dead duck tomorrow like I had to deal with yesterday morning

Please don't force water or anything down their throats you run the risk of it going into the lungs. what type of bedding are you using? is it real dusty? Feed is it dusty? sometimes they do eat shaving and can also get feed stuck into the nares, do they have a bowl that they can dunk their heads into to wash out their nares and eyes in? if you feel she may have something stuck put some warm water just full enough where the duckling can float into a sink or dish p[an and put her into it to see if she'll wash her face this way, sometimes putting them into warm water will get them to start bathing. but don't leave her unattended at all. What happened to your other duckling that died?

 

[duckins]

A warm bath/swim supervised at least daily is very important helps them clean sinus and teaches them good bathing habits course no soaps ever. See if this helps. If your 100% sure she's choking on something with the help of another if not 3 people hold duckling one person gently pull beak slightly down and out so you end up with her neck pin straight open beak having third person helps while you take clean rounded end of pencil eraser (is pencil is new erase until its rounded) and very gently push not very far into her throat btw I use small pin light that I can hold in my mouth so I can see in her throat. If done properly it will push down whatever's lodged in her throat if its choke issue. This came from storeys guide to raising ducks a very useful book and it has saved one of my ducks life. They way you no their choking is after drinking water deep enough to dip entire head they continue to try to swallow,cough, and even have a frantic look same we would have if chocking.

 

[Renee55]

I've taken care of ducks 3 times before this. I know the standards for giving enough water for dunking their heads and making sure they don't eat too big of things, allowing them to bathe, and all of that. The problem with this little girl is that I had an emergency with my dog last week and got stuck at the emergency vet for way longer than I expected to be there (5 hours longer than expected), knowing that I didn't want to leave my ducklings for that long. I came home to an entire 1 gallon waterer, already gone through and dry (only 3 ducklings), and my ducklings were all huddled up under the heat lamp, acting overheated, one near death. Yes, they had plenty of room to move away and were in no means stuck under it without means of getting out from underneath.

All acted really lethargic after that, wanting to sleep all the time and because of it, by the evening I'd notice dehydration problems because they weren't taking care of their own needs, so I had no choice and HAD to force give water a couple times a day JUST to make sure they were getting it at all, sometimes with a little sugar because they weren't eating either, not even mash, and they'd be so weak without it. Was either that or dead ducklings. The near death one is acting normal and vibrant again, the one that died I have no idea what happened (internal overheating damage too much maybe?), and this little choking girl has needed a little extra TLC it seems (she was the smallest one of the group). The night she was choking, I tried everything ya'll suggested. Putting her in enough water for her to bathe, dunking her bill under water, checking her nostrils, forcing down some more water (since she was acting the same lethargic self then too). Nothing worked and all she wanted to do was peck at her chest and underbelly and didn't care about how wet she was or if she had water on her face or not. that's why I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this behavior before. I know normal duck behavior, and this wasn't normal.

All I could do was just keep her cuddled next to me and wait it out, which eventually resolved itself, but I don't even know what was wrong to begin with. Would be nice to know so I can prevent whatever it might have been. Since that night, she perked up the next night and was able to eat and drink on her own without me having to do it for her, and is doing pretty well now. I still have nightmares about waking up to her having died, but thankfully wake to a duckling happy to see me .

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've taken care of ducks 3 times before this. I know the standards for giving enough water for dunking their heads and making sure they don't eat too big of things, allowing them to bathe, and all of that. The problem with this little girl is that I had an emergency with my dog last week and got stuck at the emergency vet for way longer than I expected to be there (5 hours longer than expected), knowing that I didn't want to leave my ducklings for that long. I came home to an entire 1 gallon waterer, already gone through and dry (only 3 ducklings), and my ducklings were all huddled up under the heat lamp, acting overheated, one near death. Yes, they had plenty of room to move away and were in no means stuck under it without means of getting out from underneath.

All acted really lethargic after that, wanting to sleep all the time and because of it, by the evening I'd notice dehydration problems because they weren't taking care of their own needs, so I had no choice and HAD to force give water a couple times a day JUST to make sure they were getting it at all, sometimes with a little sugar because they weren't eating either, not even mash, and they'd be so weak without it. Was either that or dead ducklings. The near death one is acting normal and vibrant again, the one that died I have no idea what happened (internal overheating damage too much maybe?), and this little choking girl has needed a little extra TLC it seems (she was the smallest one of the group). The night she was choking, I tried everything ya'll suggested. Putting her in enough water for her to bathe, dunking her bill under water, checking her nostrils, forcing down some more water (since she was acting the same lethargic self then too). Nothing worked and all she wanted to do was peck at her chest and underbelly and didn't care about how wet she was or if she had water on her face or not. that's why I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this behavior before. I know normal duck behavior, and this wasn't normal.

All I could do was just keep her cuddled next to me and wait it out, which eventually resolved itself, but I don't even know what was wrong to begin with. Would be nice to know so I can prevent whatever it might have been. Since that night, she perked up the next night and was able to eat and drink on her own without me having to do it for her, and is doing pretty well now. I still have nightmares about waking up to her having died, but thankfully wake to a duckling happy to see me .

Thank you for letting us know that your duckling pulled through and is doing well. I wish I had the answers but evidently what you did brought her through. Good job!

 

[Renee55]

Thank you, and thank you for all the help and attempting to help me figure out what it is. If anyone else ever has the same thing happen and someone gets wind of it, would love an answer still.