Ducklings with Duck hepatitis? Vet-free treatment?!

[JillZaHulk]

One of our younger ducklings died suddenly last night. I'm pretty sure It was due to duck hepatitis. I'm now worried about the other 8 ducklings it was brooding with. Is there anything I can do to help them get thru and survive? Vetrx in their water? Apple cider vinegar? I don't want to just do nothing but we don't have a vet available.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

Well, I'm not an expert on this stuff.
So sorry for your loss
My only advice is to buy vaccines for it since it's highly contagious and I hate to say it but some of your other ducks might have it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone
@Miss Lydia

 

[JillZaHulk]

Luckily the ducklings are all still in the brooder so they haven’t passed it to the adult birds. I assume one of the parents would have to have it or carry in order to pass it to these guys. I will be getting vaccines for them all (ducklings and adults) before the ducklings are introduced to the adult flock. I read that they can shed bhv for 8 weeks after recovery if they survive. So they have at least that long (I’ll probably wait 10 to be safe) before introduction.

 

[Raenh]

@casportpony @Kiki they might know something

 

[casportpony]

One of our younger ducklings died suddenly last night. I'm pretty sure It was due to duck hepatitis. I'm now worried about the other 8 ducklings it was brooding with. Is there anything I can do to help them get thru and survive? Vetrx in their water? Apple cider vinegar? I don't want to just do nothing but we don't have a vet available.

I am very sorry for you loss. Did you do a necropsy and look at the liver? If not, I would suggest that you do that, it should be easy to tell is it's DHV or not. A DHV liver should look like this:

If you lose another, send it to this place for a necropsy:
https://waddl.vetmed.wsu.edu

Why do you know it's DHV?

 

[Kiki]

One of our younger ducklings died suddenly last night. I'm pretty sure It was due to duck hepatitis. I'm now worried about the other 8 ducklings it was brooding with. Is there anything I can do to help them get thru and survive? Vetrx in their water? Apple cider vinegar? I don't want to just do nothing but we don't have a vet available.

How old/young was the duckling and what makes you think it is hepatitis?

 

[JillZaHulk]

It was about 2 weeks old. It became lethargic and wouldn't walk or eat/drink for about an hour or two before it died and when it died it was in the bhv typical pose with it's neck arched back. Also had lessions all over it's feet. I guess I don't know for sure just guessing from what I've read. It sounded & looks the most like what happened.

My husband had picked them up some food one night and he got a different kind. He got manna pro medicated chick starter... Is it possible it's poisoning from the medication?? I can't find enough info on that.

 

[casportpony]

Is it possible it's poisoning from the medication??

If the medication is amprolium, no.

 

[casportpony]

Are you supplementing them with a vitamin b complex? If not, you should, because chick starter does not contain enough of the b vitamins that ducklings need.

 

[JillZaHulk]

I measure and mix these into their feed.