Emergency: 10 ducks dead and counting. Please help!

[HeatherFeather]

Thank you so much everyone.

So I took 30 ducklings out and moved them to another brooder with Sand in it. It seems to be fine, and I may move even more of them to further reduce the population in the main brooder. When I loaded them in yesterday, I noted that there were 2 weak ones, one of those was dead this am, and the other one looks not too far behind. It appears that they have both been eating a lot of sand now, judging by the sand all over and inside their bills. They just can't figure it out.

Unfortunately, my cat managed to sneak in and nab one of the healthy ducklings when i was servicing them >:| grrr. She killed it instantly, but I did manage to get it back from her after she had started to eat it. And I got a look at its gizzard. It was also full of woodshavings, however they were fresh and yellow. The other dead ones, the shavings were black and rotten. So on the healthy duck, the shavings are moving through him, but things had stagnated on the unhealthy ducks. So I am not entirely sure if eating the shavings is what is causing this. What would cause the digestive tract to slow down and stop moving?

I did also add in more pie plates of feed, so now there is a feed dish every which way. Feed dishes occupy more space than the shavings now!

I'm not concerned about off gassing heat lamps, though that is worthy to note for the future though! All my lamps have been used to successfully brood batches of ducks, chicks and turkeys already.

I'm not really sure where to get chopped straw. I can get square bales of straw, but am not sure how to go about the chopping part. One time I tried putting straw in a pail and taking a trimmer with a plastic blade to it, but the blades got ruined on the pail and the straw flew every which way.

 

[Amiga]

You are certainly working to help those ducklings!

Another thought occurred to me this morning. Could they have some kind of nutritional deficiency causing them to have a pica-like condition?

Before anyone thinks I am accusing you of anything, I have found from experience that ducks seem to have different nutritional needs. I have a few girls who need beaucoups of extra calcium. Most don't. I have a few girls who do not thrive below 35F. Most of the rest of them are fine.

Could it be you have a cohort that needs extra niacin, or something, that they are not getting?

What's the feed?

 

[Going Quackers]

Are you in Canada? i just noticed your location lol

Seems your making all efforts, i seriously don't know what else to suggest if you have some overly ingesting sand, clearly there is an issue with some getting a clue at all.

Again, i have always started off with shavings and so far(knock on wood) not encountered issues but i am small potatoes compared to your set-up.

What is the feed? as well, i would bet usually loses in a large number like that is to be expected, how far away did they come from?. Sucks about the cat though, i am fortunate my guy isn't about to take on a Muscovy mama lol

 

[HeatherFeather]

yes, I am in Canada, Muskoka Ontario.

And oh, yes I am working on these ducklings, as I have orders in on them and I'm scared of not being able to meet my orders!! Plus I've already invested a couple thou in feed.....

I'm using really top-notch feed. Among the highest of quality if not THE highest of quality in Canada. Homestead Organics. www.homesteadorganics.com And I just got it on Monday last week, I placed the order on the 18th, so it would have been ground and mixed on the 18th or 19th. They are on their duck and goose starter right now; its really great feed, has probiotics and kelp meal right in it.

So I doubt its the feed....however I don't exclude the idea that perhaps this particular batch of ducklings is different for some reason. I think that the nutritional plane of the mother at the time of laying is as important as what you feed the hatchlings, however I have no control over that, as I buy from a hatchery. They came from about 2.5 hours away from me, though I suspect their entire travel time in a crate may have been closer to 5 or 6 hours after packing, loading and the truck making delivery stops at different feed stores.

I'm not really sure how I would go about giving them any additional minerals, and also how I would make sure that they didn't over indulge in a toxic amount. Maybe I should start chopping some grass for them- our pastures are greening and just reaching about 2-3" right now so it is possible now, barely, but it is.

 

[Going Quackers]

I know where you are, I'm in on myself. I also know of the feed I don't need feed it, too costly lol I've got purina feeds here.

Did they come from freys? Have you spoken with where you got them from? Gathering a feed supply.

 

[Mommysongbird]

I hope your at least a Vegan... If not your just a troll and hypocrite.

I think maybe the GREEDY part is because of the small confined space. At least that is how I see it. I am not vegan in no way. These are beautiful animals and yes they are meant for multiple purpose. I just think if they were going to get so many at one time, they would have at least built a bigger area or expanded the area they have. That is kinda just asking for trouble.

 

[HeatherFeather]

Yes, Goingquackers, they are from frey's. So I think I will put a call into them and see if they have some insight for me.

Thank you Mommysongbird for your insight. It is always important to have multiple viewpoints. I believe that it is quite normal to brood a large number of poultry for the first week or two in a very small space. They take up very little room at that age, no more room than an egg. Providing too large of a space makes it difficult to ensure that there is adequate heat for all the birds. Even though I have a lot of ducklings in a 4 X 8 stall, I would say that their bodies cover perhaps 25% of the floor space. We have always followed Joel Salatin's recommendations for stocking poultry, and he is *very* well respected. I also found some govt publications on stocking levels and .2 sq ft is a recommended amount for the brooding stage. So I did not just stumble into this, I am actually planning it out. It is just not giving me the excellent results I had in the past. And since I have only done it a handful of times, I came here, to talk to people with more experience than me.

With what I am learning, I do think I will stock more lightly next time, primarily because it is a GIANT pain to crawl to the back of the brooder to distribute clean bedding, disinfect the bell, and put out fresh feeders twice a day, with so many ducks crawling all over me! However, I am not convinced that the stocking level is what has caused the ducks to eat so many wood shavings.

I did remove 30 ducklings to another brooding area, that is 20% of them, and if it continues to go well there I will remove more to that spot. I am prepared to do whatever is needed for my ducks.

Once we get over this hump, and they get out on pasture, they will have 1600 sq feet, rotated weekly to fresh pasture on which to frolic and play! That's over 10 square feet per duck! And bigger than many people's yards!

 

[LovedMyAlydar]

I have never raised that many ducklings at once but I do notice on some of mine that when they first arrive from shipping some of them want to do nothing but eat the shavings and I get the flakes not the fine ones. I have to pull the shavings out of their mouths and put their little bills in the food bowls several times before they get the idea. Some of them go right for the food and never the shavings. Maybe the dying ones are those that decided shavings look better than food?

Good luck with the rest of the little ones.

 

[cskotek]

I am raising meat pekins for the third year. For the first 2 years we had incredible success, raising no more than 25 at at a time. We never lost any. This year, we went all out and I got several orders from restaurants.

I started with 156 last Wednesday, and now I have lost 10. I can see that there are several which are becoming weak and I will lose those ones tomorrow. What is different than when I raised small numbers are 1. that the brooder is tighter and therefore more humid. and 2. that I started bedding them on wood shavings the first day. Previously I had bedded them by layering old feed sacks over shavings and changing them out 2-3 times a day for the first week or so. I had figured this was too many ducks to do that with so I started straight out with shavings. It is also really hard to crawl to the back of the brooder...I am brooding them in a 4X8 ft stall. There is a sheet of drywall installed on the top, and 3 heatlamps inside.

Today I lost 4 ducks. My husband cut 2 of them open and we found their gizzards full of wood shavings. There was nothing in their crops or stomachs. I had suggested that we should kill a healthy one and check its gizzard for comparison but he didn't want to.

My husband thinks I should start putting sand down instead of shavings. I'm not sure this will work as its not absorbent.

Any suggestions as to what I can do would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Heather

You are probably not feeding them enough causing them to eat the shavings. I have always used shavings and NEVER had a problem. And if they are eating the shavings I would use Puppy Training Pads or news paper. Anything that is not shavings unless you use the flake bedding rather then the saw dust like form. I would also feed them much much more. And you should also move them into a larger area.. that is a really small place for them once they are over 1 week old. Its considered at least 2 square feet per one duck

 

[HeatherFeather]

hey puppy training pads is a great idea! I will get some tomorrow and try that out in the main brooder.

You too have used shavings without a problem...I think I'm feeding them enough-they have 2 hoppers which I don't let run out, and several troughs and pans which I keep re-filling through the day.

I have separated some of the ducks out of the main group now so they are occupying more space all together. I believe that 2 sq feet per duck is a recommendation for housing for grown ducks, maybe for their indoor area, I'm not sure as I keep all of my animals on pasture, and measure space by the acre.- I can't imagine what it would take to heat a 300 sq ft building as a broodspace. That would be 30 X 10 ft, or the size of a 4 car garage, for a group of animals the size of hamsters...I can still fit 4 in one hand! My living room is about 300 sq ft. and its a large room. I can't imagine it! It is just not practical and I don't believe that if you bedded an area that size, that all of the bedding would even get soiled. Could you imagine trying to distribute feed troughs over 300 sq feet so that the ducks never walk more than 10" without a feeder....that would be hundreds of feeders!!