Hi
We have recently had one of our Muscovy ducks hatch a dozen ducklings. All was fine at first but she managed to lose three on the brook in tall grass, one did a Houdini, one I think she may have trampled and we have recently lost a couple to some sort of possible illness.
They are about a month old and growing well. At night they have their own separate pen with mum and during the day they are out in the garden and spend most of the day on the brook.
A few days ago one of the smaller ducklings just seemed a little more lethargic, less interested in food and dried worms. It kept swimming but gradually seemed to grind to a hault and died. We put it down to just one of those things as it was the smaller duckling. Yesterday we lost another in similar circumstances, it's was almost as if it just ran out of energy. Today we have noticed a change in the largest duckling, a drake. He is still mobile, calls a lot for mum, has been swimming but later in the day wasn't as speedy as the rest, spent more time sitting down, when called for worms would walk a bit then sit a bit. I've just put them to bed and he is hardly interested in his food, calls a lot and just generally appears to be off colour. We really don't want to lose any more. The vet had a look at yesterdays and didn't see any signs of anything in the respiratory system or anything obviously untoward.
I'm really just hoping someone has some ideas, any help appreciated.
Thanks
Dave
We have recently had one of our Muscovy ducks hatch a dozen ducklings. All was fine at first but she managed to lose three on the brook in tall grass, one did a Houdini, one I think she may have trampled and we have recently lost a couple to some sort of possible illness.
They are about a month old and growing well. At night they have their own separate pen with mum and during the day they are out in the garden and spend most of the day on the brook.
A few days ago one of the smaller ducklings just seemed a little more lethargic, less interested in food and dried worms. It kept swimming but gradually seemed to grind to a hault and died. We put it down to just one of those things as it was the smaller duckling. Yesterday we lost another in similar circumstances, it's was almost as if it just ran out of energy. Today we have noticed a change in the largest duckling, a drake. He is still mobile, calls a lot for mum, has been swimming but later in the day wasn't as speedy as the rest, spent more time sitting down, when called for worms would walk a bit then sit a bit. I've just put them to bed and he is hardly interested in his food, calls a lot and just generally appears to be off colour. We really don't want to lose any more. The vet had a look at yesterdays and didn't see any signs of anything in the respiratory system or anything obviously untoward.
I'm really just hoping someone has some ideas, any help appreciated.
Thanks
Dave
