Duckling sneezing and panting - help please!

[Oregon Blues]

Izzy, a couple of things for you to do.

Verify that they have deep enough clean water to dunk their nostrils and eyes. They will sneeze if they can't dunk their heads. They will get eye infections if they can't dunk their eyes.

Pick the duckling up and press it lightly against your ear. If you can hear rattling or feel rattling, then the duckling needs antibiotic.

Get yourself a larger box and set the brooder lamp so it only heats one corner. Ducklings need different heat levels for different activities. When they are out and about, or eating or drinking, they need it cooler. Then when they sleep, they need it warmer. They will move from one area to another.

They must have water to aid in swallowing their food. Again, back to the water situation.

Your open window did not hurt them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Something else that hasn't been mentioned is when you start introducing other food besides starter, they will need grit, since they don't have teeth to chew with they need the grit to grind up the lettuce etc that they are eating. and as for olives, thats alot of sodium I don't think I'd give them any olives.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Izzy, a couple of things for you to do.

Verify that they have deep enough clean water to dunk their nostrils and eyes. They will sneeze if they can't dunk their heads. They will get eye infections if they can't dunk their eyes.

This is exactly what I was going to mention! If we haven't let our swim in a couple days, I have to put in a dish of water for them to wash their noses. I can tell when it's time to do that because they continue to sneeze as if they have gotten food or shavings stuck in their noses. After I realized what was going on, I always give them the bowl of water a couple times a day and they all immediately start dunking their heads and "blowing bubbles" in the water with their noses. It's actually kinda cute! I hope everything turns out ok.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Thank you all for the responses.

For the record, I have always tried to keep food and water in their box with them 24/7. I am looking into getting a larger container so they don't run out so quickly, especially since they are getting bigger and growing SO FAST! Also, the brooder light does only heat one corner of the box, and I'm planning on getting a kiddie pool to use as a larger brooder as soon as I can find one (using cut-up boxes to keep them contained in the kiddie pool).

After one person's suggestion that the water wasn't deep enough, I have decided to put a small bowl of water in with them for a little while once or twice per day. I am hesitant to let them swim because they are still young, and I don't have anything except a paint tray for them, and I don't have anywhere but their box to put the paint tray full of water.

I talked to the "poultry expert" from Orscheln's where I got the ducks. She suggested using Duramycin-10, so I picked some up and plan to put some in their water next time I change their water and use it for several days (putting fresh in at least once per day). She seemed to think that the sneezing was from stress caused by being too warm and by being handled and suggested I gradually lower the temp to 80 degrees and only handle them for a few minutes several times a day.

 

[wildpeas]

The bowl of water to bathe their heads in will be fine. I went with the cool whip container with holes cut in the lid for bathing. They can get their heads in and sit on top of it but not swim in it. I set it on the water platform when I change their drinking water and let them go at it. They are getting big enough now that I had to go with a second container with bigger holes cut out of it. If you choose to do something like this make sure there is a big rock in the bottom so they cant tip it over.

 

[lizzyGSR]

An update on my ducklings...

They were really active and really noisy all night last night. I got up this morning to find that they'd been playing in their water and their whole box was soaked clear through the wood shavings and the bottom of the box. So, I got a different box ready and transferred them over. Yesterday, I had tried adding a water bowl in with them in addition to their waterer. They never touched the second water dish. Today, I removed their water dish and put a margarine tub full of water in. I had cut a portion of the lid off, as well as part of the side so they'd have plenty of room to access their water. After several hours, I checked on them and noticed that both of them had wet heads, which I'm taking to be good news. I also adjusted their light again this morning. The temp under the light is 86.5*F and the temp in the cool spot in the box is 70*F, which is room temperature.

The one duckling that had been sneezing was sneezing pretty badly this morning when I was switching things around, presumably in response to the stress of what I was doing. However, the sneezing seems to have gotten much better after I finished and left them alone for several hours. I put an antibiotic (Duramycin-10) in their water today. So far, things look to be improving. As far as I can tell, the panting has completely stopped. Thank you for all of your help!

P.S. My ducklings seem to be much more active at night than during the day. Is there any way I can encourage them to not be nocturnal?

 

[Miss Lydia]

An update on my ducklings...

They were really active and really noisy all night last night. I got up this morning to find that they'd been playing in their water and their whole box was soaked clear through the wood shavings and the bottom of the box. So, I got a different box ready and transferred them over. Yesterday, I had tried adding a water bowl in with them in addition to their waterer. They never touched the second water dish. Today, I removed their water dish and put a margarine tub full of water in. I had cut a portion of the lid off, as well as part of the side so they'd have plenty of room to access their water. After several hours, I checked on them and noticed that both of them had wet heads, which I'm taking to be good news. I also adjusted their light again this morning. The temp under the light is 86.5*F and the temp in the cool spot in the box is 70*F, which is room temperature.

The one duckling that had been sneezing was sneezing pretty badly this morning when I was switching things around, presumably in response to the stress of what I was doing. However, the sneezing seems to have gotten much better after I finished and left them alone for several hours. I put an antibiotic (Duramycin-10) in their water today. So far, things look to be improving. As far as I can tell, the panting has completely stopped. Thank you for all of your help!

P.S. My ducklings seem to be much more active at night than during the day. Is there any way I can encourage them to not be nocturnal?

What kind of light bulb are you using? red or white, red seems to make them less active white means daylight lets play.

 

[lizzyGSR]

It is a standard 100W light bulb that stays on 24/7.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It is a standard 100W light bulb that stays on 24/7.

I'd get a red light bulb you can buy them just about any hardware store, that is why they are staying up all night. if you can't get one in 75-100 then go for 60 as long as they aren't in a draft they will be fine. I bought my red light bulb at Lowes.

 

[ColleenRyan]

At the top of the duck forum there is a sticky for duck topics. One of them is a great post about suitable treats for ducklings. I am a bit of a new duck person too so I printed the posting out to have on hand. It's probably been a life saver for my ducklings because I didn't know avacado was bad for them and I would have given them some. Same thing with spinach.

My ducklings sneeze all the time and they are healthy, just clearing the sinuses. Mine don't pant but they do "yawn" every now and then. I also agree with the poster who said food 24/7. I only have 6 ducklings and I bought the longest chick feed tray I could find. It could probably feed 30 ducklings. When they are old enough I am going to transition to 3 feedings a day but that's not for a couple more weeks.

Good luck with your little ducklings, I hope they do better.

I heard one of my ducklings sneeze
Today and it made me nervous but I feel better after reading your comment! Not violent sneezing or anything that seems weird but I wanted to make sure that was ok. He/she looks super healthyand nltjing is coming out of the nose