chickitychickity
Chirping
Of course, I’m one of those people who just doesn’t understand how people brood chicks and they die. I’ve rarely had chicks die and I have chicks about 8 times a year. But here I am criticizing chick owners and I can’t even keep ducklings alive.
I’ve had ducklings around 2 times a year for the last couple years. For some reason, I have major troubles. I’ve had my current ducklings for a week and a half now and I’ve managed to kill 5/19 of them. How? I just can’t figure it out. They all came bubbling happy and alive in the mail. I put them in my usual brooding spot which is in half of my coop closed off from the other ducks and chickens. They were on pine shavings, which I always use. They were cleaned at night and turned the next morning. They had a gallon waterer up on a stand that I changed about four times a day. When they’re bigger they move up to Tupperware with holes. They had a long trough style feeder which was washed daily to keep from having nasty feed. They had a heat lamp in one corner that was about 100 degrees under it and the other side of the brooder was outside temp. (So between 40-70 degrees, we’ve had some wild temps for March in northern ca.) This is my setup for ducks every time. The first that died was completely unexpected and died 6 days after I got them. The next duck died also completely unexpectedly the morning of the 8th day. When I got home at the end of day 8, two more ducklings were half dead and laying with their head sideways. I freaked out and brought all my ducklings into the house. I gave some nutri drench shots to the half dead ones and also put some in the water for the rest of the ducklings. Somehow, being in the ICU in my house, they all recovered and were completely normal the next day. On day 11, I came home, ducklings were still in the ICU in my house, one was acting half dead. I gave some nutri drench drops and he died shorty after. When I went back to check on the others, two more were going downhill and I observed their symptoms. They start being unable to walk, they’re unsteady and their feet curl. When you pick them up, they make a raspy peep and don’t really fight you. Pretty soon, they just lay down with their head laid sideways and they just fade out. That’s it. I did notice one of the last two that died was pooping white. They have niacin added to their feed already. So I’ve killed 5 ducks and I don’t know why. Any advice?
I’ve had ducklings around 2 times a year for the last couple years. For some reason, I have major troubles. I’ve had my current ducklings for a week and a half now and I’ve managed to kill 5/19 of them. How? I just can’t figure it out. They all came bubbling happy and alive in the mail. I put them in my usual brooding spot which is in half of my coop closed off from the other ducks and chickens. They were on pine shavings, which I always use. They were cleaned at night and turned the next morning. They had a gallon waterer up on a stand that I changed about four times a day. When they’re bigger they move up to Tupperware with holes. They had a long trough style feeder which was washed daily to keep from having nasty feed. They had a heat lamp in one corner that was about 100 degrees under it and the other side of the brooder was outside temp. (So between 40-70 degrees, we’ve had some wild temps for March in northern ca.) This is my setup for ducks every time. The first that died was completely unexpected and died 6 days after I got them. The next duck died also completely unexpectedly the morning of the 8th day. When I got home at the end of day 8, two more ducklings were half dead and laying with their head sideways. I freaked out and brought all my ducklings into the house. I gave some nutri drench shots to the half dead ones and also put some in the water for the rest of the ducklings. Somehow, being in the ICU in my house, they all recovered and were completely normal the next day. On day 11, I came home, ducklings were still in the ICU in my house, one was acting half dead. I gave some nutri drench drops and he died shorty after. When I went back to check on the others, two more were going downhill and I observed their symptoms. They start being unable to walk, they’re unsteady and their feet curl. When you pick them up, they make a raspy peep and don’t really fight you. Pretty soon, they just lay down with their head laid sideways and they just fade out. That’s it. I did notice one of the last two that died was pooping white. They have niacin added to their feed already. So I’ve killed 5 ducks and I don’t know why. Any advice?
