ducks drooping dead in the night :(

[mr cockadoodledoo]

HELP!!! On Monday night one of my male ducks died , i found him on Tuesday morning
in one of the nest boxes, I thought that he must have got to cold cos of freezing weather, anyway i put extra bedding in and then on Friday morning i found two more dead so i cleaned them out ... disinfected then put new bedding down then Saturday morning the last male was found dead. there were no bite marks on them but all of there's were open wide now threes been no reports of any disease going around. anyone got any ideas please help dont want anymore to go and i cant think of what else to do

 

[mominoz]

So sorry about your ducks. Freezing shouldn't bother ducks, they have 'down' coats. It was 18 here in Ga. and mine are in a tarped aviary with just a few nest boxes for laying. They do fine. It almost sounds like a poisioning or feed issue. Ducks are sensitive to pesticides and herbicides. Holderreads mentions it, even though there isn't official proof.I read about someones ducks dying after giving them too much greens from produce that had been sprayed. I had a little duck choke to death on dry crumbles right in front of me.

 

[Amiga]

Depending on where you live, the state agricultural college may do a necropsy for little or no cost in the interest of making sure there is not a wider avian disease problem involved.

There are a number of viruses and toxins that could be harming your ducks. I would want to find out and remove the cause of the fatal illness or poisoning, if at all possible.

Did you recently open a bag of feed? What changes have there been? Are you seeing other dead birds on the property? Were they acting at all differently before they died?

 

[Amiga]

HELP!!! On Monday night one of my male ducks died , i found him on Tuesday morning
in one of the nest boxes, I thought that he must have got to cold cos of freezing weather, anyway i put extra bedding in and then on Friday morning i found two more dead so i cleaned them out ... disinfected then put new bedding down then Saturday morning the last male was found dead. there were no bite marks on them but all of there's were open wide now threes been no reports of any disease going around. anyone got any ideas please help dont want anymore to go and i cant think of what else to do

You write "all of there's were open wide." All of their what?

How big is your flock? How many of each, male and female? How old are they?

 

[Lund Poultry]

Do you supply feed at night and no water? Reason I ask is ducks and geese need water when eating other wise they may choke. I have no other ideas what it could be. Ducks and geese are usually never sick like chickens get. Keep us posted.

 

[arherp]

What feed are you using?

 

[mr cockadoodledoo]

well I'm feeding them layers pellets from a company called fancy feed I don't usually put food in at night because they eat it outside just before they go into the coop for the night. they always have access to clean water during the day and night. there are no warnings of disease in my local agriculture news paper (Farmers Guardian ) we lost one more since the last two died he looked weak the day before and kept on walking then stopping like he was out of breath then he seemed to get stronger and got his voice back eating and drinking and all that but then in the morning he was dead with his eyes wide open. I'm wondering if the turkey has stood on them but no more have died since the last male, and they all seem happy and strong all the birds together they are two turkeys 15 chickens and now three out of seven ducks left so that's 20 birds all together but there in a large stable at night so there's plenty of room for them the chickens and turkeys perch whilst the ducks sleep on the floor or in the nest box. there were this weeks hatch

 

[BallardDuck]

I've heard that layer feed is not good for drakes; don't know that it would cause death though.

 

[un-named543]

Do you happen to have a heat lamp with a new bulb in the coop? Someone had issues with the fumes from a coated, shatterproof killing all their chickens.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How old are your ducks? if they aren't of laying age they shouldn't be eating layer, but that wouldn't kill them but could cause problems because of excess calcium. is their bedding dry and fresh? is there good ventilation inside of their stall?