Help me please!!

[madditremaine]

My duckling is about six weeks old, and she developed a sickness and I don't know what it is but she is just lying on her stomach with her beak tip resting on the ground and her head weaves just a little bit from left to right. She doesn't notice when I put her in water and when I pick her up she usually struggles and kicks but shes just limp. Its horrible and I'm really worried. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[smonkeySK]

Bit more info would be good -
Has it been a sudden change or has the duckling been getting more lethargic over several days?
What is she eating? Does she have access to things she shouldn't eat?
Is she pooping ok? If so what's the colour and consistency like?

Without more info my first guess would be poisoning - swallowed metallic objects etc
Second guess would be a feed deficiency of some kind.

But from the description it could be anything from something simple like stress, to something horrid like tumours...
Infection is also a likely culprit; check for any swelling, hard lumps and excessively warm areas. Has the duckling had any injuries that you know of? Foot/leg injuries are the most common.

Also do you have any other ducks or ducklings living with the sick duckling - does anyone else act out of character or seem less lively than usual?

 

[madditremaine]

She is eating fine. I feed her grains and lettuce and spinach sometimes. She is about 7 weeks old. Its a really weird (sickness?). She is fine one day and horrible the next. Her legs are giving her lots of pain. You know how they put one foot in front of another? Well, her feet are sort of side-by-side when she walks. She almost looked like she was having a seizure when she was laying down. She slept alright last night and was O.K. this morning. Her feathers are coming in on the rest of her body but right under her feed sack is really warm. She recently had an injury on her foot, it looked like a large blood blister on her web but its healing up fine. Her beak is a little scratched up, but otherwise she has no injuries. She is all by herself. She was a rescue and has no other animals around her to speak of. A little bit today she hung out with a stray that hangs around the neighborhood but doesn't bother her. Me and my visiting mother were looking at her and my mother thought she would die. Her legs were pulled up under her and bent strangely. Her beak rested on the ground and she was very stiff, but did not object as she usually does when I picked her up to examine her. I'm really not an expert, this is my first time with fowl, I've always had cats and dogs. I'm not quite sure what to do!!

 

[madditremaine]

Her little "packages" that she loves to just drop wherever she pleases are not the same from one to another. Sometimes they are watery and sometimes they are very full. Sometimes they are a little bit of each. Same goes for the color. Sometimes green, (Brownish-green) sometimes gray. It always dries white, though. My brother (who also visits) was taking out the trash for me when a scrap of the thin plastic fell and she just picked it up and gulped it down. So far there had been no after-affects and he said she had pooped it back out. I keep her in a hutch lined with pine straw. She is fed regularly.

 

[needlessjunk]

I don't know if her diet could be the root of your problems since I am fairly new to ducks. She should be on some sort of poultry/chick feed. Either an all flock, duck feed or non medicated chick started. Sounds like she needs more food. Also foot/leg issues are very common in ducks that aren't getting enough niacin. Brewers yeast sprinkled on her food or 1 niacin tablet dissolved in 1 gallon of water. I would get some poultry vitamins ASAP and see if that helps perk her up. Food and water should be available at all times for another week or so at the least.

 

[Amiga]

She needs to have food in front of her, with water, 24/7 at this age.

A grower pellet would be good - it has all she needs in it.

For now, get some poultry Nutri-Drench and add several drops to her water each day for a week. Get some poultry vitamins, put those in her water at the recommended dosage once a week.

I think she could be malnourished.

 

[smonkeySK]

I'd concur with everyone else - get her on poultry grower food; with water always available nearby (I'd say clean water but ducks don't generally have that for more than 2 minutes! ). Change them at least daily - wet food is ok,mouldy food is not (my ducks and chucks prefer the food wet for some reason)

I'd also add a bit of Brewers yeast to the food for good measure.
The grain was probably ok, but lettuce doesn't have much nutritional value, and spinach can cause problems as it is thought to bind to the calcium so it cannot be used by the duckling; so I would only feed spinach sparingly.
If you are feeding greens then chick grit should also be offered or she won't be able to grind it up in her crop.

This is a good read
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements


On top of her diet, if she is all alone then she can get stressed which won't help.
I took a rescue in last year and it has turned my life up side down, thankfully I have enjoyed every minute of it! But without having the support of my partner I couldn't have done it without taking at least 4 weeks off work!
The poor thing got far too distraught when left alone, so had virtually round the clock care and attention.
If you are having to leave your duckling alone for periods of time then she will be getting upset, not eating, all the while burning more calories calling/looking for you...

That's not meant as a guilt trip in any way! Taking in a lone rescue duckling is a bigger commitment than most people realise - 2 or more at the same time is soooo much easier to deal with
If your long term plan is to keep her then it would be worthwhile getting her a friend or two (I wound up getting my rescue 12 friends but you don't need to go mental!)
Teddy bears or a mirror help with very young lone ducklings but I can't see her being fooled at 7 weeks!

Keep us posted as we're all rooting for her

 

[Kleonaptra]

Quote: I also have a flock of 12 because of one tiny rescue duck...Who was actually an egg rescued from the path of a bulldozer the day he met me! (Thats him in my avatar..)

I agree with everything thats been said, if you cant get ahold of proper poultry food or non medicated starter crumble (Non medicated is very important) then you can give her some mashed up horse feed pellets in moderation, Ive done this many times with lots of different birds, especially if Ive seen this type of bird come down and share with the horses. Something else fantastic is egg and biscuit you can make yourself, hard boil an egg, peel it well (you can mash the shell in for calcium but I like to start without it so they get the good of the egg first) and mash it up with a fork adding breadcrumbs, biscuit crumbs or both until you get a crumbly mixture. I have 3 very healthy 5 week old ducklings who got this egg mixture 3 times a day and loved it. You do have to clean it all up and start again every couple of hours especially if its hot as the egg can spoil and poison them.

Also a bit of apple cider vinegar in the water is great for their crop and gut. Good luck!

 

[smonkeySK]

I also have a flock of 12 because of one tiny rescue duck...Who was actually an egg rescued from the path of a bulldozer the day he met me! (Thats him in my avatar..)

We must be mad!
Cute little bugger you've got there by the way; looks like he's going through the Goth phase

(Funnily enough my avatar is the duck that started me off too!)

 

[Kleonaptra]

We must be mad!
Cute little bugger you've got there by the way; looks like he's going through the Goth phase

(Funnily enough my avatar is the duck that started me off too!)

Yeah, duck mad! Its not a bad place to be!