Help! Ducks attacked by mink!

[Lukemjm]

Just a thought - maybe try to mix a little mushed up banana in the feed the next time you tube feed. When my Gabby was sick and hadn't eaten in a few days, the Vet told me to give her some banana - something about lack of eating/drinking causes a potassium deficiency which can cause muscle weakness and further the loss of appetite. I don't know if it will help but I wouldn't think it could hurt...

I just read through this. You are doing great! Your duckies are lucky to have such a caring and dedicated person looking after them. I don't have a lot to add to the excellent advice you have gotten from other forum members, except to say that it took about 5 days of force watering/feeding before a listless hen who was suffering a raging infection from a bobcat bite, began to perk up. Sadly, I didn't have any antibiotics to give to her, so it was just food, vitamins, water and time (she made a full recovery).

Pulling for you and your duckies!

Thank you!
I have been giving vitamin supplements through their water but I will check to make sure they have potassium. I do also have general antibiotics, as well as probiotic supplements to help maintain digestive health. Hopefully this is good enough to speed up the process. I'm also using anitbiotic ointment topically on the wounds, but they have been scabbed over for 6 days now, so it's mostly just keeping them moist and flexible.

 

[A_Fowl_Guy]

Thank you!
I have been giving vitamin supplements through their water but I will check to make sure they have potassium. I do also have general antibiotics, as well as probiotic supplements to help maintain digestive health. Hopefully this is good enough to speed up the process. I'm also using anitbiotic ointment topically on the wounds, but they have been scabbed over for 6 days now, so it's mostly just keeping them moist and flexible.

Any luck trapping or eliminating the predator?

 

[Lukemjm]

Any luck trapping or eliminating the predator?

No, not yet.

 

[DuckLady]

I have cleaned this thread of sniping, and other unpleasant things. If you can't be helpful, don't post or send a private message so the rest of us don't have to see it. Please and thank you.

 

[Lukemjm]

I have cleaned this thread of sniping, and other unpleasant things. If you can't be helpful, don't post or send a private message so the rest of us don't have to see it. Please and thank you.

Thank you very much.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Very glad to hear things are going well! I've been following along but hadn't posted.

On the topic of lubing the tube, when I tube feed I often lube up the end with coconut oil. Just because it's what I always have on hand (for when I have to assist a hatch) and it works pretty well.

can you lube up with that if you have to feel inside the vent for some reason like a stuck egg?

 

[Lukemjm]

can you lube up with that if you have to feel inside the vent for some reason like a stuck egg?

Not sure about this specifically, but coconut oil is very safe in general, very unlikely to react with anything(chemically), and it usually doesn't have any weird stuff in it. A good tip to make sure you have pure coconut oil, is to check the taste. It shouldn't taste like anything, if it tastes like coconuts, or if it's sweet, then there are additives. It may not be on the label, companies get away with this all the time.

 

[AmyJane725]

Phone died, so I woke up late. They are doing ok, both laying down when I came in. Carmella is still having trouble holding her head up, but she is doing it more than yesterday. No mucus this morning and her temps seem normal. Gregory is in a very good mood it seems he is recovering nicely. Still worried for Carmella.

To me, her posture looks greatly improved. That one picture you showed yesterday, where her head was literally upside down, with the top of it touching the floor, was heartbreaking to see. She looks "almost" normal today. A bit droopy, but nothing like that other photo.

And like the others were saying, potassium is important. The "sodium-potassium" pump is a very important thing in living organisms. If these get out of balance you die. I know chickens aren't supposed to have much salt. I'm not sure if the same is true for ducks, but you've been giving them electrolytes, right? So they should be getting adequate salt and potassium.

And a small note on potassium: Bananas are famous for having potassium, and if the vet said to use them its' probably fine, but potatoes actually have a much higher potassium load, so if you need to get some potassium in them fast, cooked potato peel might be the way to go.

Exercise caution though: "Only cooked potatoes are acceptable for ducks. Either smashed or cut in small pieces. Potatoes are a dense starch that can impact the crop and block digestive processes if given to ducks in large quantities."

About 1/3 of the potassium in the potato is in the peel, so you'd probably want to grind up and use the entire peel, since it takes up so much less space than the entire rest of the potato. I don't think the peel is starchy/dense enough to cause a crop impaction. The peel of a 10.6 oz potato (a large baked potato) should net you about 532.6 mg of potassium, where feeding an entire medium sized banana would only net you 422 mg.

All of that being said, I have no idea what the daily recommended allowance of potassium for a duck is, so even 422 mg might be serious overkill.

 

[mixedUPturk]

Im joining the cheering section Way To Go @Lukemjm !! Really stepping up and giving it your all! I kno theyre not out of the woods yet but i think your an awesome duck mom!

@casportpony ms Kathy your amazing

 

[Miss Lydia]

How many feeding have your babies had today @Lukemjm ?