DYING HEN!!!

[duckymomma15]

im a first-time duck owner and clearly i dont have much experience because easter morning i woke up to two of my ducks (the drake and one of the hens) dead in their house. i wasnt aware that males would get more aggressive during season changes and i made the fatal mistake of not separating him at night. the whole house was a bloody mess. the three girls who survived had bad bite wounds on their necks and the drake's neck was torn apart. i think that when he was jumping on them in the house at night he was hurting their necks and killed the female, then all her "sisters" avenged her by killing him but the blood made them go a bit crazy. Then last night two of the three hens who lived passed away as well. The final hen (named PLT) is fighting to survive and is currently living in my room with me. her neck has two deep gashes and she wont eat. so here's the question: what can i do to help her get better? she can barely move her neck, she wont lay down, and hasnt eaten in three days. ive put a bit of bacitracin on her wounds but they're really bad. please help!!

 

[duckymomma15]

update: i just checked on her and she's laying down now. im worried that if she falls asleep she wont wake up

 

[sourland]

My gut instinct tells me that your ducks may have been the victims of a predator attack. This does not sound or look like duck on duck violence.

 

[duckymomma15]

My gut instinct tells me that your ducks may have been the victims of a predator attack.  This does not sound or look like duck on duck violence.

we were thinking this too but we checked all around their pen and house but there was no way for any animal to get in; no holes dug under, doors were latched.

 

[Orca5094]

Your duck is in shock and it can be hard to break them out of it. A vet visit would be best for antibiotics/pain meds/fluids or whatever else she might need to pull through. You'll want to keep her in a safe/quiet place so she can calm down and feel safe. She is your only duck left then? That is so sad, I'm so very sorry. :/ Being with at least one other duck friend would help her alot right now as they are flock animals and get very stressed when alone. Give her vitamins in her water and all of her favorite treats. She must start to eat something or she won't make it.

How is she today?

Where do you live? I only ask because of possible predators. This had to be a predator attack and not a duck fight. Sounds like mink to me, they can get into very tiny places that you wouldn't think possible.

 

[duckymomma15]

Your duck is in shock and it can be hard to break them out of it. A vet visit would be best for antibiotics/pain meds/fluids or whatever else she might need to pull through. You'll want to keep her in a safe/quiet place so she can calm down and feel safe. She is your only duck left then? That is so sad, I'm so very sorry. :/ Being with at least one other duck friend would help her alot right now as they are flock animals and get very stressed when alone. Give her vitamins in her water and all of her favorite treats. She must start to eat something or she won't make it. 

How is she today? 

Where do you live? I only ask because of possible predators. This had to be a predator attack and not a duck fight. Sounds like mink to me, they can get into very tiny places that you wouldn't think possible. 

Today we bought some liquid nutrition thing for her and got six pekin ducklings to start the flock again. She saw the babies and quacked for the first time since Saturday, so that's good. We got her to eat a little but of ground layer pellets, but nothing else. Also we found evidence of an animal (probably a raccoon) peeling up the roofing and getting in. I feel horrible knowing that it was our poor carpentry skills that caused this. The wounds are noticeably from a bite and we've been putting bacitracin on them. We were going to take her to the vet today, but thought it wasn't necessary and cancelled the appointment. I'll schedule ome for tomorrow though if you think that would help. Thank you for your help.

 

[Orca5094]

Aww, that's great the ducklings seemed to perk her up a little. How is she doing today? Eating better now?

Glad you figured out where the predator got in. Now you can fix that and be sure that it doesn't happen again. Don't beat yourself up too much about it, things like this happen. But then we learn from it and fix the problem. Life is a game of trial and error. Hope your girl is doing better now!

 

[Amiga]

How are things today?

 

[duckymomma15]

Havent eem on here in a while so sorry for the late reply. She and all her siblings died ): but we got 6 pekin ducklings who are now full grown fat babies