Emergency, sick duck

[Galaxyfalcon]

Did it completely disappear with your duck in between or did it continue to move abnormally? I find it so typical that at first he seems more dead than alive and after a short time (first time about an hour, second time about ten minutes) he is completely recovered.

Glad to hear he seems fine, I hope he stays that way! Her symptoms fluctuated a bit during the wobbly/drunk walking phase where she would have bursts of being better again (could clean herself without falling over) but that lasted for about 2 or 3 days and then she started getting worse.

 

[ilovechickenliver]

I just opened a topic in the emergency section but later realized that this section contains the duck specialists. I don't know if it's allowed but I don't have any responses yet and I'm very worried.

Here is the link to the topic where I explained everything, I hope someone can advise me. Topic -> click

Thank you very much for your help!

poor ducky I hope it feels better soon D=

 

[kwik-kwak]

This is an older topic, here's an update:

Things are going well now and I hope it stays that way. About two weeks ago he had it for a short moment again. When my boyfriend walked to their coop, the ducks were just walking around and seemed normal. He went to get their food and when he came back the duck was suddenly on the ground again. So really in a minute from normal to half paralyzed. He picked him up and placed him near the food and then he recovered very quickly. We may think it has something to do with hunger. Until now it has always happened before dinner. They get food twice a day (and now and then a little extra during the day) and in between they walk all the time on the grass so really hungry maybe does not make sense, maybe it is the excitement of getting food. So still a bit of a mystery.


All three times he has had this now, he recovered very quickly so I'm not extremely worried anymore but I'm still curious what it is.

 

[Miss Lydia]

May I ask why you don't free feed? I don't know what foraging is like where you are but there is not any going on here with ice and snow. Maybe he isn't getting enough to eat and hypoglycemia is coming on him.

 

[Peas4Ducks]

Seconding the question about limited feeding--I don't think ducks can eat very much at one time. Are they each getting at least 4-6 ounces of food a day?

 

[kwik-kwak]

They were bred as meat ducks and probably a cross between a pekin and a muscovy. They get fat pretty quickly (because of the pekin half, I think) and I don't want to overload their legs. If they get more food they become very lethargic and lie down a lot.
There is no snow here and there is plenty of grass and weeds for them to eat. In the morning and evening they get a large bowl and in the afternoon a handful as an extra.

So it is an option that it is feed related, but I don't want to make them very fat. This cross is mainly bred in France for 'foie gras' (fatty liver).

 

[kwik-kwak]

Seconding the question about limited feeding--I don't think ducks can eat very much at one time. Are they each getting at least 4-6 ounces of food a day?

I don't weigh the food, I'll do that later, but I'm pretty sure they will eat the stated amount at one moment.
But these are our first ducks so maybe we should do it differently...

 

[Peas4Ducks]

They were bred as meat ducks and probably a cross between a pekin and a muscovy. They get fat pretty quickly (because of the pekin half, I think) and I don't want to overload their legs. If they get more food they become very lethargic and lie down a lot.
There is no snow here and there is plenty of grass and weeds for them to eat. In the morning and evening they get a large bowl and in the afternoon a handful as an extra.

So it is an option that it is feed related, but I don't want to make them very fat. This cross is mainly bred in France for 'foie gras' (fatty liver).

Ah, that makes sense. Pekins are tricky.

 

[kwik-kwak]

I just weighed the food and they are getting 6.3 ounces per duck divided over two to three feeding moments. They are big ducks, so maybe we could give a little more.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, they are tricky but maybe the cross would change that for them. My ducks Muscovy, Runners, and Buffs eat a lot of feed but when we're not snowed in they get a lot of exercise and free feeding hasn't ever caused a problem.
One thing I will say is ducks are not like geese, geese can survive really well on grass but ducks need more protein which they get from their feed and the bugs they find while foraging. Just wondering if this maybe food related. How old are your ducks?
I'm not a vet so I am probably way off course here. But to get to the route of the problem sometimes we have to eliminate so maybe start by offering more feed and see if it makes a difference.