Help! Ducklings dying suddenly

[Ruralhideaway]

What's their heat source? Any changes there?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Where do you live? Take a look here and see if the symptoms fit any of these:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poult...ement-poultry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry

 

[wnhunter]

I'm a bit perplexed by the comments suggesting the ducklings are crowded. I'll grant that more space wouldn't hurt, but I think it'd be a stretch to say that they're cramped at this age/size. I've made mistakes in the past and had too many in too small a space, with obvious results such as constantly damp bedding, dirty and damp ducklings, and general unthriftiness.

None of that applies here. Apart from the area immediately surrounding the waterer, which is more or less constantly damp (but which also gets frequent additions of dry wood chips), the bedding is dry. And the ducklings are clean and dry and downright chipper, until they seem to suddenly fall ill and die. They don't show signs of either overheating or chilling, but are spread about evenly like they should be. The heat source is two 250-watt bulbs, which is what I pretty much always do in late winter/early spring. Plenty of food and water trough space, with no crowding.

It's strange, too. I set up a second brooder and kept the lame ducklings in one while moving the seemingly-healthy ones into the other. In the space of a little over an hour, a handful of the "healthy" ducklings were lame or dead, while a couple of the "lame" ducklings were running around just fine (though a couple of them also died).

It's certainly possible that one or more feed ingredients is contaminated, though I would have expected less of a sudden onset of debility and death. Though the feed is wet, it isn't foul; rather, it smells pleasantly like good sourdough. There is no mold growing. (I've made the mistake of letting mold grow, in the past, though I scooped out and discarded what I could find. Even then, with the obvious presence of mold, there were no sudden or severe health effects like what's happening now.)

I finally drove into town to buy some Epsom salts to try a sort of flush, because I have no idea what else to try.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Can I ask where you got the heat lamps? There are quite a few on the market these days(not sold for birds that I've seen), that are Teflon coated, deadly to all birds.

 

[wnhunter]

The heat lamps came from a local farm/feed store. Nothing on the box indicates that they are Teflon coated, though I don't know if that would necessarily be in print.

I should mention, too, that I have adult birds (chickens, ducks, Muscovies, geese, turkeys), so there is of course some potential for disease transfer. But, as I mentioned at first, the symptoms don't seem to clearly match any of the more common diseases/illnesses I've found, which is why I brought my question here.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Just had to ask since they seem to sometimes improve when moved away from their housing.

That's lots of heat. Did I miss whether they are inside or outside?

 

[wnhunter]

I looked them up, and the heat lamps are not coated.

The brooder is in an uninsulated detached garage. It's open topped, but I cover it as needed depending on ambient temperatures and duckling behavior. And again, they don't show signs of overheating or chilling. Some of them are dying right under the heat lamps, while some are dying off by the edge of the brooder.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Seems unrelated then.

 

[casportpony]

I looked them up, and the heat lamps are not coated.

The brooder is in an uninsulated detached garage. It's open topped, but I cover it as needed depending on ambient temperatures and duckling behavior. And again, they don't show signs of overheating or chilling. Some of them are dying right under the heat lamps, while some are dying off by the edge of the brooder.

If you lose more you should have a necropsy done. Let me know where you live and I'll help you find a veterinary diagnostic lab. If you are in the US, many states offer free or very low cost necropsies for backyard poultry.

 

[casportpony]

Duck Virus hepatitis
Duck virus hepatitis is a highly fatal contagious disease of young ducklings, 1-28 days of age. Ducklings are most susceptible at the younger ages and gradually become more resistant as they grow older. The disease is rarely seen in ducklings over 4 weeks of age. The onset of the disease is very rapid, it spreads quickly through the flock and may cause up to 90% mortality. Sick ducklings develop spasmodic contractions of their legs and die within an hour in a typical "arched-backward" position. The liver is enlarged and shows hemorrhagic spots. To prevent this disease, keep age groups isolated and vaccinate breeder ducks with an attenuated live virus duck hepatitis vaccine (to produce maternally immune ducklings).

Source: https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/Sects/duck/health.cfm

Edited to add pictures: