Female duck not eating well - tube feeding questions

[KCNC06]

I'm sorry you can't get her up to speed on her weight. The flock-recover looks pretty good. I've never seen it or seen anyone here mention it so maybe it's a new product . Sure worth trying though. But I wonder if even though you are tubing her she still isn't getting all the nutrients she needs. Like she won't eat feed right? Minnows could be making her poop smell off too. Just like mealworms will.
I do understand about Avian vets we have none around us and no vet that will see poultry that actually know anything about them.
As for the tiny bit of blood in her clear discharge I am going to try and tag @casportpony I really don't know what to tell you in the meantime if you can get some pictures that would be good and will help.
the fact she is mostly herself gives hope that whatever is going on isn't life-threatening.

I know blood in poop can be a sign of coccidiosis but I just don't want to go down a path that isn't needed.

Thank you for your... everything! The Flock-recover stuff looks like it may be relatively new. It was the only product I could find last night that had probiotics and electrolytes that would get here today without me having to go anywhere. The plasma ingredient sounds kind of creepy but whatever.

I've suspected that maybe I'm just not making the formula correctly when I tube her. Or maybe I've underestimated what her ideal weight should be and I'm not feeding her enough and that's why her gains have been slow. We're still doing feedings 4 times a day and she's getting 90-100 ml per feeding. My brain doesn't want to do the math on the formula to water ratio right now but I've been mixing 6 tbs of the powdered formula with 7 or 8 TBS of water. Maybe that's too thin? It's just about too thick for me to push if it's much thicker than that.

She's still not fond of regular duck feed, not even the Farmer's Helper Ultra Kibble though I think she eats a bit more of the ultra kibble than regular feed. She'll eat some of the baked fish, peas and cucumbers. She's been less interested in live mealworms lately. Also, very good point about the minnows making her poops smelly. I don't think she's getting minnows every day but I could be wrong. She doesn't always admit when she gets treats.

I've been watching for poops this afternoon and haven't seen any with the blood tiny to the discharge. The feathers around her vent area looked dirty this afternoon though so I gave her a bath and cleaned that area with a little baby shampoo...which she did not appreciate. I got lots of bites for the naughty touching. Anyway. I wondered about coccidia but keep seeing that it's very rare in ducks and that it usually happens when their ground is super gross. She doesn't go in the areas where our outdoor birds live and the outside birds don't free-range anymore so I don't know where she would have picked that up. Unless her sister was a carrier and brought it inside when she came in. (The sister who passed away suddenly last month.) I have Corid just in case. I'm not sure if that's the best treatment though. The little bit of blood that I saw really was just a little bit, and not with every poop. I'm pretty sure I woke up and looked every time I heard her poop last night and only remember seeing a couple poops with a tiny amount of blood early in the night.

Other than not gaining weight as fast as I'd like, and the poops that have me worried, she really is mostly normal. I recently commented that I wish she'd get back to doing more normal things so I'd feel more confident that she's ok, then tried to think of what she normally does that she isn't doing now. I couldn't come up with much. She's kind of a lazy brat I guess.

 

[KCNC06]

These are two of her poops from this evening. The one on the towel is about what "normal" looks like for her lately. The second had a bit of the clear discharge with it and was more of a stress poop. She pooped that one as we finished a tube feeding. The normally clear discharge with that poop looked like it had color mixed with it but not "red" like blood.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for your... everything! The Flock-recover stuff looks like it may be relatively new. It was the only product I could find last night that had probiotics and electrolytes that would get here today without me having to go anywhere. The plasma ingredient sounds kind of creepy but whatever.

I've suspected that maybe I'm just not making the formula correctly when I tube her. Or maybe I've underestimated what her ideal weight should be and I'm not feeding her enough and that's why her gains have been slow. We're still doing feedings 4 times a day and she's getting 90-100 ml per feeding. My brain doesn't want to do the math on the formula to water ratio right now but I've been mixing 6 tbs of the powdered formula with 7 or 8 TBS of water. Maybe that's too thin? It's just about too thick for me to push if it's much thicker than that.

She's still not fond of regular duck feed, not even the Farmer's Helper Ultra Kibble though I think she eats a bit more of the ultra kibble than regular feed. She'll eat some of the baked fish, peas and cucumbers. She's been less interested in live mealworms lately. Also, very good point about the minnows making her poops smelly. I don't think she's getting minnows every day but I could be wrong. She doesn't always admit when she gets treats.

I've been watching for poops this afternoon and haven't seen any with the blood tiny to the discharge. The feathers around her vent area looked dirty this afternoon though so I gave her a bath and cleaned that area with a little baby shampoo...which she did not appreciate. I got lots of bites for the naughty touching. Anyway. I wondered about coccidia but keep seeing that it's very rare in ducks and that it usually happens when their ground is super gross. She doesn't go in the areas where our outdoor birds live and the outside birds don't free-range anymore so I don't know where she would have picked that up. Unless her sister was a carrier and brought it inside when she came in. (The sister who passed away suddenly last month.) I have Corid just in case. I'm not sure if that's the best treatment though. The little bit of blood that I saw really was just a little bit, and not with every poop. I'm pretty sure I woke up and looked every time I heard her poop last night and only remember seeing a couple poops with a tiny amount of blood early in the night.

Other than not gaining weight as fast as I'd like, and the poops that have me worried, she really is mostly normal. I recently commented that I wish she'd get back to doing more normal things so I'd feel more confident that she's ok, then tried to think of what she normally does that she isn't doing now. I couldn't come up with much. She's kind of a lazy brat I guess.

I'd say she is spoiled rotten lol you know how we can overdo on treats with our kids and animals Maybe you should cut back on the treats and try just putting down the Farmers Helper Ultra Kibble and just see how long it takes her to start to eat. I wish @casportpony would reply I trust her judgement on tube feeding.
That was the main reason I didn't say start her on Corid because it isn't usually an issue with ducks unless kept in horrid conditions.

 

[KCNC06]

I'd say she is spoiled rotten lol you know how we can overdo on treats with our kids and animals Maybe you should cut back on the treats and try just putting down the Farmers Helper Ultra Kibble and just see how long it takes her to start to eat. I wish @casportpony would reply I trust her judgement on tube feeding.
That was the main reason I didn't say start her on Corid because it isn't usually an issue with ducks unless kept in horrid conditions.

She's definitely spoiled rotten. She's been the boss of the house since she hatched. I've considered cutting the treats completely but...I don't want to "punish" her sister by taking the treats away. She's super stubborn and will likely just wait me out. It seemed like that's what started her weight loss. I started giving them Mazuri waterfowl whatever again and she hates that stuff so she'd look at the food and leave.

I'm still going back through everything trying to think of anything I might have missed. She had a hard molt back in the fall and stopped laying eggs for about two months. After her molt she started laying again just for a few weeks. The last few eggs she laid had soft shells. Then she stopped laying completely again before she started losing weight and hasn't laid any eggs since then. I'm not 100% sure on the dates of anything though since things have been ridiculous in our lives.

 

[Miss Lydia]

One thing I liked about the Flock Recover is it has Oregano in it which is a natural antibiotic.
It's probably good she isn't laying she needs to be recover from what ever has thrown her off kilter. I just wish I could tell you how to proceed with her.

 

[Fawkes]

I hope after she reaches the desired weight and you don't need to do the tube feeding anymore that she'll start eating enough on her own! Does she live with any other ducks? I find other ducks are handy for getting a duck to enjoy a certain food or treats that I'm wanting them to eat. Seeing the other duck enjoying it piques their interest and provides a bit of competition to encourage them to eat.

Regarding the blood. Last year my indoor duck (who was really still a duckling, maybe not even 2 months old?) started having blood in some of her poop. She was horrible about eating things she shouldn't so I wasn't sure for awhile if she was somehow still able to eat red paint off a piece of furniture, even after I covered it.

But I took her to the vet when it wasn't clearing up and they did a couple fecal tests (the 2nd they didn't charge for) and they couldn't find anything that would really cause the blood. She had some protozoan parasites in her poop but that's normal they said, they doubted that it shouldve been an issue. But maybe she had a bit too many.

So they gave me panacur and antibiotics and I never saw anymore blood after she finished her meds. She was completely normal the whole time too, ate normally, etc. I wouldn't have known there was a problem if not for seeing the blood.

Anyway, I thought this might help to know since in my case it was also an indoor duck with blood in her poop.

 

[KCNC06]

I hope after she reaches the desired weight and you don't need to do the tube feeding anymore that she'll start eating enough on her own! Does she live with any other ducks? I find other ducks are handy for getting a duck to enjoy a certain food or treats that I'm wanting them to eat. Seeing the other duck enjoying it piques their interest and provides a bit of competition to encourage them to eat.

Regarding the blood. Last year my indoor duck (who was really still a duckling, maybe not even 2 months old?) started having blood in some of her poop. She was horrible about eating things she shouldn't so I wasn't sure for awhile if she was somehow still able to eat red paint off a piece of furniture, even after I covered it.

But I took her to the vet when it wasn't clearing up and they did a couple fecal tests (the 2nd they didn't charge for) and they couldn't find anything that would really cause the blood. She had some protozoan parasites in her poop but that's normal they said, they doubted that it shouldve been an issue. But maybe she had a bit too many.

So they gave me panacur and antibiotics and I never saw anymore blood after she finished her meds. She was completely normal the whole time too, ate normally, etc. I wouldn't have known there was a problem if not for seeing the blood.

Anyway, I thought this might help to know since in my case it was also an indoor duck with blood in her poop.

Thank you for sharing!
We do have other indoor ducks. Three of her biological sisters and one mini Cayuga. Bill doesn't really care what her sisters eat. She may peck at something they're eating but if it's something she doesn't care for at first peck, she shakes her head and is done with it. She won't even eat watermelon off the rind. She loves it cut up in a bowl though.

The thing that has me scratching my head with the little bit of blood is it seems to be in the clear discharge stuff not really mixed with the poop. The clear discharge looks like what comes out when they're...aroused. That seems like it's more of a reproductive thing. I'm not sure how much stuff from the digestive system would get mixed with reproductive "lube".

 

[KCNC06]

Quick update. I finally got the fr 18 tube to work so I'm able to make the formula a little thicker now. It seems like the thicker formula (more calories) is helping because she's back to gaining weight again. I don't think I'm seeing anything that looks like blood in her poops anymore though she does still have the clear discharge with about 1/3 of her poops, more frequently immediately following feedings so maybe it's a stress thing.
She's also acting more like her normal happy self...as evidenced by the bite marks on my arm. When she's her normal happy self, she wants to play "attack Momma" whenever she has a chance. When she's feeling her best my arms will look their worst. She got one little bite on my wrist the other day that actually drew a little blood and left me feeling like I had been bit by ants.

All the girls are still getting that Recover 911 powder in their water. I did a little reading about the powdered plasma stuff in it and it looks like it's supposed to do great things for gut health and immune function.

 

[TillyPeeps]

I only tube feed chickens, and actually did a lot. I started with the baby bird formula and then I just grind regular chicken feed with a coffee grinder. I think the baby bird formula is not quite right for chickens and ducks. The ground feed is not as fine as the baby bird formula powder, but it still works. I also add oregano powder and probiotics to the feed to help them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What a great update. Your poor arms.