Help!!! Baby duck is sick!

[ellie97]

I am really worried about my baby Pekin duck, Emerson. He is 5 days old and has been growing and progressing normally, but today he is acting a little lethargic as well as having runny poop, a very slightly runny nose (very clear fluid) and occasionally pants like he is struggling to breathe. Is there some kind of medication I can give him? Can you give Tylan to ducklings? I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am really worried about my baby Pekin duck, Emerson. He is 5 days old and has been growing and progressing normally, but today he is acting a little lethargic as well as having runny poop, a very slightly runny nose (very clear fluid) and occasionally pants like he is struggling to breathe. Is there some kind of medication I can give him? Can you give Tylan to ducklings? I would appreciate any advice.

You can give Tylan to ducks but first can you give some info? what is the temp in your brooder for one. what are you feeding and does Emerson have a way to clean out his nares, chicks waterers don't work so well on ducklings after the first week, they need to be able to clean their nares out. Panting could mean he is too hot temp in brooder should be between 87-90 first week and 5* cooler each week there after. How many ducklings are in the brooder with him and do they have an area where they can get out of the heat if they want too.

 

[ellie97]

You can give Tylan to ducks but first can you give some info? what is the temp in your brooder for one. what are you feeding and does Emerson have a way to clean out his nares, chicks waterers don't work so well on ducklings after the first week, they need to be able to clean their nares out. Panting could mean he is too hot temp in brooder should be between 87-90 first week and 5* cooler each week there after. How many ducklings are in the brooder with him and do they have an area where they can get out of the heat if they want too.

Hi-sorry I am just now answering! He is by himself in the brooder. Next door to a couple of guinea pigs. He spends very little time in there though, as he is an imprinted duckling and goes everywhere with me. It is approx. 90 degrees in the warmest place in the brooder, and the other side is only about the temperature outside, although that gets up to 90 often too as we live in Georgia. He spends a ton of time indoors though where it is 72-75 degrees. He eats purina flock raiser crumbles and does drink out of a quart size chick waterer-should I switch out for gallon sized? I keep food and water in front of him all the time as I've read they can have anxiety problems later in life if they don't have food available whenever they want it. The heat lamp only goes on at night when the temps get below 85 naturally-haha. He is actually doing much better today-we had a crazy day yesterday and I'm thinking he was just overly stressed. He has been panting just a tiny bit today when something makes him unhappy like me not holding him just the right way-spoiled baby. His poop seems normal too. I think he's just fine, but I would still appreciate any advice on duck parenting if any of what I'm doing doesn't sound good. I've raised ducklings 3 times before Emerson but those have all been in groups and therefore not human imprinted. Thank you!

 

[Amiga]

Awwww, Emerson,

You are a caring duck person. So encouraging!

Have you seen this?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/750869/raising-and-caring-for-ducklings#post_10611711

It is at least a good starting point. And I like the Ultimate Pet Duck Guidebook. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks is also an excellent resource. The UPDG is pet-focused and may work better for you.

 

[kbarnes]

By the time my ducklings were two weeks I had a small sweater box that was plastic with about 2 inches of water for them to swim. They would put their whole head under water and blow it out of their nares. You could try that. I know its important to have some kind of open water source to swim in but they need it shallow so thatthey can cover ttheir head but not drown.

 

[ellie97]

Thank you guys for the tips! Amiga, I will definitely check out that page! As E is only 6 days old, should he have that much water yet? Or maybe just a few times a day with supervision? I've heard that since they're so clumsy at this age they can drown in a very shallow amount of water He is just still so little and fragile! This is Emerson when he was wading in a pan of water:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you guys for the tips! Amiga, I will definitely check out that page! As E is only 6 days old, should he have that much water yet? Or maybe just a few times a day with supervision? I've heard that since they're so clumsy at this age they can drown in a very shallow amount of water He is just still so little and fragile! This is Emerson when he was wading in a pan of water:

What an adorable baby.. in the link Amiga gave you there is a nifty water bowl pic that you can use for E where he can dunk his head but not get into it. As for swim time always with supervision. 90* after week 1 is too warm and actually they can get sick from over heating too so monitor his temps. Next week he can have cooler temps like 80-85 in warmest part of brooder. Honestly they are alot tougher than we give them credit for as long as they are out of drafts, Please keep us updated on how he is doing.

 

[Amiga]

Yes, they are resilient little beings and at the same time can get themselves into dire trouble in the most unexpected ways. I was a hoverer, and everybody made it to maturity. I have lost two of my runners, one to egg yolk peritonitis, and the other may have been oviduct problems or hardware disease, I did not have a necropsy done that time and wish I had.

 

[jtn42248]

One thing I did with my 18 Cayugas for water was a shallow bowl (about 2 - 2.5 inches deep) and put a rock in it that left about a half inch free all the way around and that helped weight it so they could not tip it over. They would stick their entire head in and play but could not actually get in the water and not get out again. They made up a sort of king of the mountain game and would stand on the rock to rule the bowl.

 

[chlozaP]

Water mixed with 2 tea spoons of sugar and a tea spoon of salt! Best thing to perk up any animal