Floppy duck

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Roughdiamond

In the Brooder
May 12, 2021
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Hi all. I have a 4 year old Buff Orpington duck, one of a trio, exhibiting very odd behaviour. She is fit and active when I let her out to free range in the mornings. In laying season, late afternoon she disappears under a bush somewhere and stays there when the other two return at dusk, meaning I have to search to find her. When I find her she is floppy, unable to walk and has a very weak quack as I carry her back to her duckhouse. She won't eat or drink and sits quietly in the corner. The next morning she is perfectly fine again, busy doing what ducks do until the same thing happens again later in the day. I sometimes see an egg in the duckhouse where I put her the night before so I assume this is a laying issue. She has no problem over winter when she isn't laying. I wonder what causes this seemingly temporary paralysis and wonder if anyone can throw any light on this? I have supplemented with niacin just incase but it has had no effect.
 
Roughdiamond said:
Hi all. I have a 4 year old Buff Orpington duck, one of a trio, exhibiting very odd behaviour. She is fit and active when I let her out to free range in the mornings. In laying season, late afternoon she disappears under a bush somewhere and stays there when the other two return at dusk, meaning I have to search to find her. When I find her she is floppy, unable to walk and has a very weak quack as I carry her back to her duckhouse. She won't eat or drink and sits quietly in the corner. The next morning she is perfectly fine again, busy doing what ducks do until the same thing happens again later in the day. I sometimes see an egg in the duckhouse where I put her the night before so I assume this is a laying issue. She has no problem over winter when she isn't laying. I wonder what causes this seemingly temporary paralysis and wonder if anyone can throw any light on this? I have supplemented with niacin just incase but it has had no effect.
Click to expand...
Hi @Roughdiamond since you assume it's an egglaying issue...
You might want to check if the symptoms of obturator paralysis fits the symptoms of your duck..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/obturator-paralysis.1438777/
 
Roughdiamond said:
Hi all. I have a 4 year old Buff Orpington duck, one of a trio, exhibiting very odd behaviour. She is fit and active when I let her out to free range in the mornings. In laying season, late afternoon she disappears under a bush somewhere and stays there when the other two return at dusk, meaning I have to search to find her. When I find her she is floppy, unable to walk and has a very weak quack as I carry her back to her duckhouse. She won't eat or drink and sits quietly in the corner. The next morning she is perfectly fine again, busy doing what ducks do until the same thing happens again later in the day. I sometimes see an egg in the duckhouse where I put her the night before so I assume this is a laying issue. She has no problem over winter when she isn't laying. I wonder what causes this seemingly temporary paralysis and wonder if anyone can throw any light on this? I have supplemented with niacin just incase but it has had no effect.
Click to expand...
@Miss Lydia is right! I've been going through this with mostly 2 of my almost 1-year-old runners. This has been going on since March 31st. They are fine one minute and then next they are leaning over, necks in a "s" shape sometimes (but not every time). Next, they put their wings out to stabilize themselves I guess and then they flop down because they can't walk or stand anymore. This is when I am able to easily pick them up and put them in their pen where they can rest or I'll just hold them so they can have a bit of quiet time. After a bit of a rest, they will come out and act as if nothing happened and go on their merry way.

They have been laying since October and all 5 of the young girls (same hatch) are laying an egg every day. I keep them separated from the 10 older ducks so I'm sure all 5 are laying every day. It's just 2 of the 3 blu runners that are having issues like this. They are all eating, drinking, pooping perfectly normal. They are in a securely covered run with tons of room so they are running around foraging all day and they have a pool that is drained and cleaned out every 2 days. They are eating Purina duck pellets and have been since hatch. I give them plenty of oyster shells and their little eggs are hard-shelled and perfectly formed.

I have tried everything I know to do for them and nothing has worked. I started with calcium gluconate, B-complex, and even did a regiment of Baytril on one of them that was in really bad shape. I got some Purina Layena because it has more calcium in it but I didn't see any change so after 2 big bags I've gone back to the duck pellets. I've given them calcium citrate and they get 3ml of nurtidrench over the fresh fruits and veggies they get for a treat every day.

I'm about at the end of my rope with them and reached the point where I'm just glad they don't die. It's so sad and frustrating to see them like they get and it happens every single day mostly in the late afternoon or at bed time. I can't seem to fix this no matter what I do.

This is a picture of how they look after they can't walk and I've put them in the pen. They try to use their wings to move around....pitiful! I sure hope someone has some answers for us!
1E7DE218-DE92-4D8A-9A30-376EFEBDBF77.jpeg
 

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