First time Duckling Owner with some concerns about the baby...

[Amykins]

I hope so, too...Wobbles needs her soulmate! XD I'm happy you're such a doting duck mama. Wibbles is one lucky duck. <3

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Regrettably, my Wibbles has gone downhill through the day. She is so sleepy, and she's starting to show weakness, having a hard time walking a straight line or standing for long periods of time. I've detected a crackle in her lungs, so I went ahead and switched her to the stronger antibiotic, but I don't have much hope for her at this point. I'll let y'all know if she makes it through the night.

 

[Amiga]

 

[DuckLover1029]

Good luck with your duck.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Wibbles is a fighter! She's still with us this morning. I woke up to her eating from her dish on her own, but she's still just not eating enough. She's also quite weak and sleepy at this point, and her peep sounds different, almost like her throat is dry from peeping. I've decided to try and make a feed mush with the antibiotic water and just syringe it directly into her mouth. I've only had to do this once before with one of my hens, but it kept her going when she wouldn't eat on her own. If Wibbles is gonna beat this, she needs the energy.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I don't know what's going to happen next, but Wibbles has regained some of her appetite. She was eating heartily from the crumbles that she had knocked all over the floor of the brooder. She still seems kind of weak and sleepy, so I'm not getting my hopes up yet, but maybe this is a sign that the antibiotic is starting to kick in? We'll see. I have classes starting tomorrow, so I hope she does alright through the day without me. :/ This has been a rough weekend!

 

[DuckLover1029]

I hope so too.

 

[SerenityRachel]

You are a good duck mamma! Wibbles is THE CUTEST. Hope she's doing better still!

 

[Orca5094]

Sending positive thoughts to Wibbles!! Hope she's doing ok today.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I'm really not sure at this point how she is doing. Wibbles' appetite has returned in force, but she seems so weak still. She's not peeping much anymore, which is very unlike her, and is sleeping a lot. When I see her out, she is usually sitting, not on her feet, and looks tired. She still itches her face a lot, but I don't know if that's because her nose is getting clogged at about a billion times the rate as before! I see less snot from her and more of just food clogging her nose, though. She has also started having more poo stick to her vent and I've had to clean her rear off a couple times now. It seems like for every improvement she has, she gets worse in another regard. I just don't know. :/


If anyone has any ideas, anything at all, that might help this baby pull through after all this, please speak up! For convenience, here's a run down of what she's getting better with and what's been getting worse.

Improvements:
- Appetite; Her food dish is going down a lot faster now, and less of her feed is on the floor of the brooder. When I see her out from under the EcoGlow, she is usually sitting at the food dish.
- Runny Nose; As I mentioned above, she has less snot (if any) at the moment, and most of her nasal issues are from feed clogging her up.
- Difficulty breathing; She had a crackle in her lungs and was really breathing hard, but that seems to have receded. Her difficulties in breathing all seem to stem from food stuck in her nostrils at the moment.


Worsening Symptoms:
- Diarrhea; Before, her droppings were not sticking to her vent. In the past 24 hours or so, they have started to stick and I've had to wipe her off.
- Weakness / Sleepiness; She is resting a lot, not standing much, and when she does, she seems to have some balance issues. She will wobble back and forth and sometimes stumbles when she walks.
- Quietness; Wibs spent her first week or so of life peeping nearly nonstop, not a distressed peep but just a happy chattering peep. Right now, she peeps quietly and only a few times. When I call out to her, I get a few weak peeps, but nothing more.
- Drinking?; I don't know for sure, but I don't think she's drinking as much. Whenever I offer her a syringe of water or show her to her waterer, she goes at it like she's just walked the Sahara with no canteen. This could just be as a result of the diarrhea, I suppose. With classes, I haven't been around as much today or yesterday to determine if she has been drinking normally on her own.


No Change:
- Itching; She itches her beak, nose, eyes, and throat a lot. Could that just be from food clogging her nose up?
- Head shaking; Again, writing this off to gunk in her nose.



Living conditions, just to reiterate:
- Her food is an all-flock blend. It is 20% protein and does have Niacin, but the label doesn't specify how much.
- Her water is in a duck waterer like from this thread (it's even a ricotta tub like that shows!). I cleaned the tub with hot water and soap before I filled it for her. She is on Tylan 50 soluble powder in her water at the rate of one teaspoon per gallon. This was the only dosage I could find and was given in regards to chicks or chickens, but a few asked about giving Tylan to ducks and were told it was alright, so I assume this is correct.
- Her heat source is an EcoGlow. According to the thermometer I have underneath it, it stays right around 100 degrees F. It does not feel hot to the touch, at least to me, and Wibbles does stand with her back pressed up against it on occasion.
- Her bedding is just flat paper towels. I replace them about every other day or as they appear to need it. I replace them whenever water gets spilled in there (which is not often) and she is never on wet bedding for long if at all.
- Her brooder is a copy paper box, probably around 2x1x1 foot tall. The back 10 inches or so are covered by the EcoGlow, and I also have a towel hanging over that end of the brooder. There are no drafts down in the box.
- She has never been outside my room and has not been exposed to any soil, toxin, or fume of any sort. I wash my hands after every time I handle my chickens, so she has not been exposed to them at all, either. There is some dust leftover from the chicken chicks I had in there earlier in the season, but there isn't a lot of air flow in that room and I don't think any of it would have gotten to her? The chicks were only ever sick with Coccidiosis for a very short time, and other that that they were perfectly healthy.
- The room is as quiet as the coop is; I have a baby monitor in the coop, and a lot of the day, the girls are making noise about one thing or another. It's never very quiet for very long, we'll just say, but it isn't overly loud, either, and I can turn the volume down or off as needed.



Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to be detailed. I say again, any ideas would be great, even if they are a long shot! Anything I can work with at all is at least something!