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- #21
Just thought to give an update. My little gasper is doing much better but still has her bouts with gasping. Although now it seems to happen less frequently. She's still trying to catch up in size with her siblings. It's funny though how she is the bully out of all 6 ducklings. You would think she would be the one being picked on but instead she picks on everyone else. When I give peas for a treat she pushes herself to the front and just walks over everyone else. Now that I've seen her breathing issue for almost a month I feel pretty confident it's not an illness like pneumonia. It seems to be more anatomical in nature and seems to only be a problem when she eats and drinks almost as if it went down the wrong pipe. I still could have been the cause of the problem by not providing water deep enough for them to fully dunk their entire heads when I first brought them home. Once I added the deep water bowl I noticed a small improvement but she still wasn't dunking her head like the others. Perhaps she still isn't fully following her siblings when it comes to water protocol but at least now I am not as concerned that I'm going to lose her to an illness. Here's a pic of all of them. Can you tell which one is Gasper? That's my water contraption that they're sitting around. It's a quart plastic storage container. I put duct tape across the middle so no one gets an idea to take a bath and I have a thick wire securing it to the wire mesh over a cookie tray so no one can knock it over. When I first put the container in the brooder it was very funny watching them stand on top of it and not understand why they're not getting wet. Now I know why everyone says ducks are more entertaining to watch than chickens are.
Anyway, thanks again for all of the suggestions to help. Maybe this will help someone who has the same issue with their duckling.
Anyway, thanks again for all of the suggestions to help. Maybe this will help someone who has the same issue with their duckling.
