highest calorie food you can feed ducks? She might not make it....

[dehave]

I need to get a high concentration of calories into my sick duckling. What is the most concentrated calories she can/will eat? Someone suggested bacon fat? Is that safe? I think sunflower seeds are high in oil, therefore fat. I have a large bag from last years sunflowers. If I ground those woud they be safe? I don't know if she is eating the grit I give her. I've been giving her scrambled eggs, and she really likes it. What else can I feed her?

 

[d.k]

* Have you posted on ducky b/f with her symtoms and the situation, or is this the first on this problem???

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

dont give your duck bacon greese or sunflower ,if you have been feeding your duck chicken start that is why it is sick.take it off the feed i has mine on lay crumbles for the whome time untii they start laying ...first 2 weeks mix their feed with water you can feed them eggs very good but not as a steady diet i stop giving crumbles when they start laying try to get 20% feed mix grit with their food

 

[chickenlady]

Why do you want to feed high calories to a sick bird? What will high calories do? Seems to me like you would need the get some of the proper waterfowl feed for it.

Edited to add: I just found your other posts. Seems you keep putting everything into new posts. Is this the same duckling that you put outside at 2 weeks old and then found out it had an enlarged heart? I'm not sure why you keep starting new posts but when you do, everyone has to come on and keep asking all the same questions to figure out how to help you. It would be more beneficial to you and easier for the rest of us here if you kept it to one post.

Anyway, what feed have you been feeding your ducks? You cannot just give high calorie foods to an animal. You need to give the proper food, try a high protein water fowl food. In the other post DLUNICORN suggested a suppliment for you, have you looked into that yet?

 

[rodandbrandy]

for a sick duck I give it sugar water by a dropper and offer game bird crumbles, I offer it the dropper every4 hours or so and of course give it fresh water all the time. Good luck, ducks are tricky, they can break your heart in a second.

I think I assumed it was a duckling, if it's not I would offer it warmth and privacy and regular food and water.

 

[dehave]

Sorry, didn't realize that I should keep it to one post. Will try to do that in the future.

The reason that she needs a high calorie diet is that she has a heart defect. I have taken her to the vet and she said that all her caloric intake is going toward how fast her heart is beating, and she has none left over for growing. I have to hand feed her every two hours.

The vet said to give her scrambled eggs, but I was trying to come up with other things to feed her. I currently feed the ducklings Organic chick starter supplemented with brewer's yeast per the directions in Storey's. I also have grit out and give them fresh tender grass chopped up in their water. She does not eat much unless I am hand feeding her.

I was unable to reach my vet yesterday regarding feeding her Ensure. I did look online and was unable to come up with any good information on it, so I thought I would ask again on the forum.

Sorry if I have been doing this the wrong way. I am very concerned for her and just want her to have her best chance.

She seems very happy with her duck buddies even though they now tower over her. They protect her and snuggle her and keep her warm and she seems to be very bonded to the two of them. By the way, they are all just under 3 wks old.

 

[fullhouse]

You can get sunnut butter at the grocery store. It's near the peanut butter, but is made from ground sunflower seeds. Very yummy!

 

[dehave]

Never mind...she died.

 

[chickenlady]

I am very sorry about your loss. That is a tough one. It sounds like you did everything that you could.

 

[d.k]

* Awww, darn it.