Hard Lump on Duck's Neck

[Crazy Birds]

I left for a week-long livestock show, leaving my ducks in the care of someone I trusted - although I now am rethinking that decision. I got home late tonight and went to check the ducks. It was very obvious that they had not been taken care of very well. Their nostrils were completely filled with poop, and they were sitting in an inch of poop. I'm not sure if this had caused this.
They are around two months old and still living inside, but I planned to put them out in the coop soon. I put them in a warm bath after I noticed have dirty they were and only then realized that one of my males has a huge bald bump on his neck, and was having troubles holding himself up - he was fully feathered when I left. He did have a niacin deficiency when I left, but I found that out early on and treated him accordingly, so I thought at first he hadn't been given his NY. While in the bath he was unable to hold himself up, and was sitting at the bottom of the tub, and when he got out he could hardly walk!
I'll try and get a picture of him tomorrow morning.

Any ideas what this could be? Thanks in advance

*Edit* After cleaning everyone up and finding the same thing but smaller and not as hard on my other male, I fed them, and no one is eating. This is very concerning because my ducks have always had a healthy appetite.

 

[IvysAnimals]

Maybe its a saliva pool in the neck, cyst, bacterial infection or viral, cancer, or maybe something else? I doubt it's cancer, probably something that should just be drained You might have to get it checked out so it won't harm you birds or to get it drained....Hope that helps!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Pictures are always helpful. Were they fed in this same container they were sitting in poop? This sounds like a possible bacterial infection which means antibiotics. If you have a farm vet or a vet that will see ducks I'd have this looked at. Poor things being so young and having to live that way for a week. How many ducklings are there? Try rinsing these areas with some warm saltwater. And giving liquid B complexfor the niacin deficiency TSC carries a good one it will say injectable but we use it orally.
gives directions https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

 

[Crazy Birds]

I'm not too sure if they were getting fed in the same container as poop. When I got home the food container was the only clean thing and was completely full, so it is possible that she cleaned their food container and left? This morning after checking the lumps got softer and feels like there are food pellets. Is it possible they have an impacted crop?
I read that puking is a way to get rid of impacted crop, is this true?
There are four ducklings. The male that has the very large bump had been shaking all night and still shaking this morning, even though he is laying underneath his lamp and hasn't moved at all since I put him out.
Thank you all for the help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

So the lump is on the chest side of his neck? I wouldn’t make him throw up he may get some into his lungs. He sounds sick with the shaking and under heat any way you can have him checked by a vet?

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[ruthhope]

While the ducklings are not eating properly, I would offer them glucose-electrolyte solution to drink. you might have to encourage them to drink by dunking their heads in the solution

 

[Crazy Birds]

Thank you all for the help! It is very much appreciated! The bump was directly on the front of his neck. Thank you for the link as well. From it, it sounded a lot like impacted crop, so I treated it as so (without puking him!) After I posted, he perked up, stopped shaking and started eating and drinking again. I gave him water and oil and massaged the bump every half hour and put oil in his food, and after a few days it went away.

 

[ruthhope]

Thank you all for the help! It is very much appreciated! The bump was directly on the front of his neck. Thank you for the link as well. From it, it sounded a lot like impacted crop, so I treated it as so (without puking him!) After I posted, he perked up, stopped shaking and started eating and drinking again. I gave him water and oil and massaged the bump every half hour and put oil in his food, and after a few days it went away.

@Crazy Birds, I suspect that your duck sitter was leaving your ducklings hungry, then adding a lot of food to their bowl. Your ducklings then ate like they hadn't seen food for a month [or however long they were without food] without drinking, in their eagerness to get food. That would cause varying degrees of impacted crops.

I rescued 2 pekin drakes last week that had been abandoned and were in an apalling state. Once I got home with them, I gave them food and water and had to remove the foodbowl within minutes as they were eating far too quickly and not drinking. For several days I had to feed them every couple of hours to stop them eating too much in one go. Even now, I am feeding them twice daily, they start eating like they haven't seen food for a month, but do slow down and go off and drink; and they do leave food in the bowl

Perhaps you can find a better duck sitter for the future?

 

[Crazy Birds]

I have already started looking. Thank you for the info, it was very interesting. Hopefully your duckies get better soon, sounds like they are in a much better place