Help! I've lost 2 ducklings in 2 days

[Amiga]

Wow, what a tough problem!

Mother Earth News has an article this month about natural mosquito control. You should be able to find it online.

I started keeping rosy red minnows and comets in the rain barrels. That eliminates larvae quickly. Mosquito dunks work pretty well, too.

 

[zekii]

We are in SWNH, and just lost a duck for no reason also... So I hope this isn't the cause.
Let me know what you vet reccomends to treat ducks with to kill this bug ?

 

[PeanutnCashew]

Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I hope you know that this could happen to any of us and not your fault...who knew mosquitoes could kill our ducks!

I know we battle mosquitoes/flies...I never would have thought it to be something to worry about...but now I will. Thank you for posting this.

Maybe those who found safe solutions to keeping the pests away could post for all our benefit.

 

[QuackedUp]

Oh my gosh! That is really scary! I live in Memphis, so we are HEAVY on the mosquito's!!! I have candles ALL over the place, and I can't seem to keep my toenail polish from "gumming up" because I spray so much bug repellent on that is turn my polish (even OPI polish) to a gewwy gum. I ALWAYS keep my dogs and cats on heart worm preventative, but over the past 6 years, I have had 2 of my 4 dogs come up heart worm positive. Apparently our area is under a national study, because the heart worms are becoming resistant to all of the drugs... After thousands of dollars (at separate time for each dog), luckily both doggies are doing very well and are otherwise healthy.

I would just die if one of the ducks got sick from the mosquito's!!!! What a terrible thought! PLEASE let all of us know what further tests say!!! I am sure there are many people on this forum with mosquito problems that would like to be aware. I hope all is well!!!

 

[QuackedUp]

P.S. I would just make sure ot read the info on the chemicals you use. They will say if they are yard safe for dogs/cats, etc. We bought OFF Yard stuff once, and then couldn't use it, b/c it was going to poison our dogs. If the info on the back doesn't say it is harmful to domestic animals, I would assume it was safe to use.

 

[Duck Inspector]

Well that is just terrifying! I have lost three ducklings so far to what sounds like the same symptoms. Is there any chance you noticed what color their poop was before they passed? All my duckling that didn't make it were doing the same thing, but their poop was pastel green. I have one duck that has been sick for over a week now, and while she seems to be slowly improving now my favorite duckling (Miss.Trudy, she's handicapped and lives in the house) has the same colored poop. I have read many other posts about lame ducks with green poop and they just trail off. I work on a dairy farm and I really hope I'm not bringing anything back with me; I never wear the same shoes in the bird yard as at the farm and I always shower before I got out there. So in short, I'm stumped!

Also, thank you for posting what the vet said and I'm waiting for the rest of the diagnosis.

 

[zekii]

Since we are new to ducks we are also wondering what normal duck poop versus abnormal duck poop looks like ?
We have not used any medicated feed for our ducks since alot of references we read
reccomended avoiding medicated feed !!!

 

[buggymuffin]

It says it is safe for pets, but I am not sure what that means. The ingredients seem pretty tame, but I can't seem to find any definitive information. And the company website has nothing. We may just spray the rest of the yard and leave their run alone.

 

[buggymuffin]

I can't find any standing water for them to breed in, but given that we live in town, who knows what our neighbors have. For now we are going to try to focus on plants. What is scary was how fast they went. I don't even know if taking them to the vet when the first symptoms showed up would have made a difference.

 

[Wynette]

We decided to become more self sufficient and bought some ducklings to raise for eggs. We bought 6 ducklings in early May, 3 Khaki Campbells & 3 Cayugas, all female. They have been doing great, and a week ago at 7 weeks old we moved them outside. I am in SW New Hampshire and the days have been warm with the nights staying well above 60. They are kept in a small room in our attached barn at night and spend the day in a fenced yard. They seemed to be doing great. Two days ago one of the cayugas wasn't as active, spent more time sitting and not running around with the group foraging. Yesterday morning she was dead. The others seemed fine. Yesterday afternoon, one of the other cayugas was trailing the pack, but otherwise seemed fine, no sitting, etc. just slower. This morning she was gone as well. What is going on? I thought by now we were out of the woods with most illnesses.

It was really hot and humid last Thursday and Friday (in the 90's with high humidity), but they seemed to do fine. Saturday and Sunday were much cooler (in the 80's Saturday and 70's yesterday). I don't know if that might have affected them. The only other thing that changed was that we mixed some layer feed in with their unmedicated starter feed a couple days ago. We noticed yesterday that the bag said it shouldn't be feed to them before 18 weeks old, so we took it away and went back to strait starter. I don't know if this was disease or something else, and whether I need to be concerned about the rest of the flock. What should I do?

Gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about your losses, thanks so much for updating us on what you found out in that regard.

I do have a question - and i am new to ducks just this spring as well. But - from all that I have read, they should only be on starter the first 2-3 weeks...I'm not sure about ducks, but with chickens, too much protein will damage their internal organs. You might be better off finding some grower feed (I use pelleted feed made for ducks that is produced by a local feed mill). JMO. Again, thanks for sharing with us, and I hope your Campbells are doing well!