Ducks Shaking Heads Please Help!

[terris]

I have 2 Welsh Harlequin females 14 weeks old and a mallard drake 5 months old. A few days ago they started shaking their heads like they have an ear infection. After researching this forum someone had to go to a vet and placed the duck on Baytril and a few drops of polyvisol, a children's vitamin drop. The fecal test on her duck came back negative.

But while Googling Ducks Shaking Heads, a site in the UK says parasites can cause this.

Can anyone give personal experiences or share your knowledge so I have a better idea? I do not have enough to have all three ducks tested for everything which my vet will want to do. It would be helpful if I could help her narrow it down.

They get commercial poultry feed + niacin in the form of Bragg's nutritional yeast flakes and free range all day. We use kiddie pools and change the water every day.

Thanks very much.

 

[ajallchorn]

I'm relatively new to the duck world - my two are about 5 months old and I the only experience I have of this is when they get something stuck in their beaks, then they violently shake their heads - it's quite worrying! I really hope you get this sorted and that the ducks are okay!!

 

[Amiga]

I just read in Storey's Guide that head shaking could mean gapeworm, but I want to mention that my ducks sometimes shake their heads when they eat something dry and scratchy. What do they eat?