How to look after/feed a sick duck

[Mellyweg]

Hi everyone, I’ve been a lingerer on these forums since I got my 3 Pekings (2 drakes and a hen) approx 9 months ago (they are under a year old) …today I have just got back from the vets with one of my drakes who seems extremely unwell to the extent I don’t believe he will be getting better but wish to do all I can to attempt to help him recover. The vet gave him a thorough check over but wasn’t able to come to any conclusion of what may be wrong (aside from speculating that it may be avian flu - and has reported such to the necessary authorities (am now worried that my beauties are all to be culled if an inspector decides to visit in the next few days ) He suggested that Pablo could do with a stint in hospital and a drip but was unable to accommodate this because he isnt due at work for the rest of this week - alongside his concern regarding avian flu and not wanting to take any chances which I understand I guess.

Both of my other ducks seem perfectly fine - energetic, chatty, as greedy as usual. But Pablo is not his usual self at all, he is lethargic, slow and wobbly and can only stand for short periods, he won’t eat, doesn’t attempt to escape strokes or handling and has given up on grooming The only thing he will do is take small sips from a bowl placed directly under his head. The issue is definitely not his legs.

I would say he’s been unwell for 2 weeks in total - initially I thought he was depressed as our Hen Hoisin had recently moved on from claiming him as her Drake to our less impressive dirty duck Patè (I now wonder if this occurred because they already knew he was unwell) he began sitting in corners, walking around slower than usual and showing no interest in treats. He stopped grooming and shortly afterwards I noticed one of his eyes was weeping - this was my first indication that he wasn’t well after which I realised the extent of his lacking appetite. Panic ensued as did a frantic google search..

Based on various comments online I ended up purchasing Vetrx poultry aid (which reminds me of olbas oil ) and Verm-X (a gut vitality liquid) - Within 30 mins of adding Vetrx to some water and wiping it over his nostrils, eyes, beak etc he perked up - had a bath, preened, stretched and flapped, did a little jig and started chattering away, plus ate! Happy was an understatement! I believed this miracle solution had made him better but continued adding both solutions to his/their water just incase. 2 days later his eyes and nostrils still seem fine since but his demeanour and weakness now seems worse than before - back to not eating, walking around or preening - I have no idea what’s wrong or what to do now!?

Vet said indoors TLC, some force feeding and seeing whether the worming meds he prescribed just incase make any difference.

I will be doing all of the above but feel somewhat concerned about distressing Pablo any further by force feeding him, I was thinking a watery duck smoothie would be a better bet to get some nutrients back into him -

Does anyone have any ideas regarding anything I’ve mentioned?

or smoothie ingredient suggestions? I was thinking Peas, cucumber, yogurt and the VermX as a base..?

Any help would be much appreciated - I absolutely love these guys and am extremely worried

 

[ruthhope]

Hi @Mellyweg

So sorry about your boy's ill health. My guess would be less certain than you vet who has examined the boy. However when I got to the bit about runny eyes, my anxiety levels about avian 'flu were raised.

I have a neighbor who rescued two sick muscovy from an apartment block parking lot last year. We believe that they had avain flu. They had all the symptoms you described particularly the watery discharging eyes. The two were miserable, eating and drinking very little for a week. She cared for them in dog crates in her front garden which is private, and observed strict quarantine protocols -- changing into and out of rubber boots when visiting the ducks and wearing plastic apron and disposable gloves when handling them or their crates. I only saw them once -- and not close up as I was fearful of transferring the infection to my own ducks. They started to improve after 7-10 days and were well enought o return to the apartment block retention pond after 2 weeks.

She gave them pedialyte solution [from the supermarket pharmacy shelves] to drink. It is electrolytes but also has a small amount of glucose to provide energy when the ducks were not eating. She offered them "ducky soup" rather than crumbles/pellets frequently during the day while they were very ill. Her ducky soup was very thrin gruel made from pellets dissolved in warm water. It was, frankly, miraculous that they survived.

They were never taken to a vet and not tested for Avian 'flu because the vet would have had to report the infections and then all her birds -- pets in the house and in an aviary in the back garden -- would have been culled.

I think you might assume your boy has an infection and start the regime of giving pediatlyte to drink and frequently offering ducky soup, while keeping him quiet in a dog crate or tote in your house. You might add Nutri-drench [from Tractor Supply] to the pediatlyte to give additional essential vitamins.

I hope he doesn't test positive for avian 'flu.

Please keep us up dated on developments

 

[ruthhope]

This is a link to the latest update on Avian Flu in the USA

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-flu-summary.htm

It is widespread in wild birds: highest in Minnesota, just a little more than in Florida.

Our ducks should not be mixing with wild fowl on ponds and creeks. Best if they are kept in runs protected from all wild birds, but I know that is difficult for many of us. In the UK all ducks and chickens have to be kept in runs: free ranging is illegal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did the vet test for avian flu. or is there a test other than the one they were using to test people for covid that just about always came back positive and wasn't reliable? I hope your drake starts feeling better.

 

[ruthhope]

Did the vet test for avian flu. or is there a test other than the one they were using to test people for covid that just about always came back positive and wasn't reliable? I hope your drake starts feeling better.

Vets send samples to the laboratory for rapid testing. It isn't done by the vet using a lateral flow test -- the sort that have been issued for rapid testing for COVID. There is one reference laboratory in the USA that does virus isolation -- the gold standard for diagnosing Avian 'Flu. A backyard duck keeper's flock wouldn't warrant sending for virus isolation -- it is used for identifying strains and tracking infection in commercial flocks. They go by the results of the the rapid tests for individual ducks

https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/...n-influenza-diagnostics-testing-factsheet.pdf

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Did the vet test for avian flu. or is there a test other than the one they were using to test people for covid that just about always came back positive and wasn't reliable? I hope your drake starts feeling better.

I agree the test were never reliable
My daughter had a much from the school abc she tested Tao water , orange juice. Pop , coffee abd pickle juice
Pickle juice was the only one negative. The rest all positive
And called the school along with several other parents who tested things with Concerns that lunch food could give kids a false posture
The school immediately stopped sending home tests or testing at school

 

[Mellyweg]

Hi @Mellyweg

So sorry about your boy's ill health. My guess would be less certain than you vet who has examined the boy. However when I got to the bit about runny eyes, my anxiety levels about avian 'flu were raised.

I have a neighbor who rescued two sick muscovy from an apartment block parking lot last year. We believe that they had avain flu. They had all the symptoms you described particularly the watery discharging eyes. The two were miserable, eating and drinking very little for a week. She cared for them in dog crates in her front garden which is private, and observed strict quarantine protocols -- changing into and out of rubber boots when visiting the ducks and wearing plastic apron and disposable gloves when handling them or their crates. I only saw them once -- and not close up as I was fearful of transferring the infection to my own ducks. They started to improve after 7-10 days and were well enought o return to the apartment block retention pond after 2 weeks.

She gave them pedialyte solution [from the supermarket pharmacy shelves] to drink. It is electrolytes but also has a small amount of glucose to provide energy when the ducks were not eating. She offered them "ducky soup" rather than crumbles/pellets frequently during the day while they were very ill. Her ducky soup was very thrin gruel made from pellets dissolved in warm water. It was, frankly, miraculous that they survived.

They were never taken to a vet and not tested for Avian 'flu because the vet would have had to report the infections and then all her birds -- pets in the house and in an aviary in the back garden -- would have been culled.

I think you might assume your boy has an infection and start the regime of giving pediatlyte to drink and frequently offering ducky soup, while keeping him quiet in a dog crate or tote in your house. You might add Nutri-drench [from Tractor Supply] to the pediatlyte to give additional essential vitamins.

I hope he doesn't test positive for avian 'flu.

Please keep us up dated on developments

Hi Ruth, thank you muchly for your reply. I’m UK based.

The vet called me to say he’d reported it but he was informed that it can’t be avian flu as my duck has been showing symptoms of illness for 2 weeks.

We’ve been keeping Pablo inside since, offering regular water with added nutrients - vermx, electrolytes and Vetrx (not all at the same time) - don’t know if any of these have been working but he seemed to perk up a little (as in not get worse and walking around some)

We hosed him down in a shallow bath on Thursday and he loved it, he ducked and splashed and had a good preen which seemed energetic enough to me that maybe he was getting better.. he took himself into my sons room afterwards and seemed quite comfortable and more settled so we let him stay in there overnight.
He was okish the next day also so took him into the garden whilst we were working out there so he could spend some time with his friends. Was still slow and not eating but followed them around a bit and didn’t want to come back in (he was avoiding us and turning his back when to approached or spoke to him) so I left him outside and under the care of my son whilst I went to work.

By the Friday eve when I got home he had gone downhill quite considerably, is lying really flat, barely moving, barely drinking, panting heavily and I can hear the drum of his heartbeat reverberating off the floor!

After a google search I’m now thinking whatever he has was maybe aggravated by being outside - like aspergillosis maybe as my garden and their run has had a very damp and soggy winter and we’ve been doing the deep litter method on and off (although no mold seen inside coop) they’ve also managed to sneak into our raised open compost bed on a few occasions to get at the worms with probably isnt the most sanitary place to be as it’s primarily old bedding. I’m now self blaming and completely lost what to do for him now.

He was so bad yesterday evening that I actually thought he would pass away overnight but left his head/beak resting on a shallow container of water/pellet/mealworm soup with added vermx incase he wanted any and noticed he took occasional sips and even some nibbles (eating anything seems to aggravate whatever is going on inside his mouth/with his sinuses though as he opens beak wide, shakes head and refuses to eat again afterwards.)

I checked on him this morning and his head is now up again but is now open mouth panting and at the moment won’t drink when offered! (even plain water) Don’t know whether to take him back to the vet or not as they seemed pretty clueless and weren’t willing to do much (because their exotic vet only works part time so isn’t available for extensive or long term treatments - I don’t think they consider ducks important tbh) regardless I am going to call them again on Monday if he makes it that far..

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I have a duck who has aspergillosis but not in the lungs
She didn’t show any of those signs as hers was gleat at the vent and not in the lungs
Your vet can test for it but it is costly as are the meds
Or at least in Canada they are
Can you get colloidal silver try for 30-40 ppm
Give 1ml 3 times a day
It works on fungal as well as bacterial infections
I give this to my girl as well as her meds
It’s more of a natural medicine and was used for a very long time before pharma came in
I myself use it and swear by it
I would also give him probiotics
One more thing could be did he eat anything that could have been toxic?
@Miss Lydia do you have more to add

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’m so sorry your going through this. It’s so difficult to know what to do other than to keep them comfortable. And try the silver if you can get it in the UK. Did the vet give any meds in case this is an infection?

 

[ruthhope]

Hi Ruth, thank you muchly for your reply. I’m UK based.

The vet called me to say he’d reported it but he was informed that it can’t be avian flu as my duck has been showing symptoms of illness for 2 weeks.

We’ve been keeping Pablo inside since, offering regular water with added nutrients - vermx, electrolytes and Vetrx (not all at the same time) - don’t know if any of these have been working but he seemed to perk up a little (as in not get worse and walking around some)

We hosed him down in a shallow bath on Thursday and he loved it, he ducked and splashed and had a good preen which seemed energetic enough to me that maybe he was getting better.. he took himself into my sons room afterwards and seemed quite comfortable and more settled so we let him stay in there overnight.
He was okish the next day also so took him into the garden whilst we were working out there so he could spend some time with his friends. Was still slow and not eating but followed them around a bit and didn’t want to come back in (he was avoiding us and turning his back when to approached or spoke to him) so I left him outside and under the care of my son whilst I went to work.

By the Friday eve when I got home he had gone downhill quite considerably, is lying really flat, barely moving, barely drinking, panting heavily and I can hear the drum of his heartbeat reverberating off the floor!

After a google search I’m now thinking whatever he has was maybe aggravated by being outside - like aspergillosis maybe as my garden and their run has had a very damp and soggy winter and we’ve been doing the deep litter method on and off (although no mold seen inside coop) they’ve also managed to sneak into our raised open compost bed on a few occasions to get at the worms with probably isnt the most sanitary place to be as it’s primarily old bedding. I’m now self blaming and completely lost what to do for him now.

He was so bad yesterday evening that I actually thought he would pass away overnight but left his head/beak resting on a shallow container of water/pellet/mealworm soup with added vermx incase he wanted any and noticed he took occasional sips and even some nibbles (eating anything seems to aggravate whatever is going on inside his mouth/with his sinuses though as he opens beak wide, shakes head and refuses to eat again afterwards.)

I checked on him this morning and his head is now up again but is now open mouth panting and at the moment won’t drink when offered! (even plain water) Don’t know whether to take him back to the vet or not as they seemed pretty clueless and weren’t willing to do much (because their exotic vet only works part time so isn’t available for extensive or long term treatments - I don’t think they consider ducks important tbh) regardless I am going to call them again on Monday if he makes it that far..

So sorry that you and Pablo are going through this. It does sound like a persistent infection -- so glad it is not Avian 'flu.

Don't blame yourself! Letting Pablo do what he likes, is best as it is less stressful on him. At the time he went out and stayed out, that is what he wanted to do. Certainly don't worry about the ducks getting into the compost searching for worms. That is what ducks do. Their own composting bedding is better than them going through mulch brought in from outside -- who knows what contaminants are in bought mulch?

Do try the colloidal silver -- it could help and it wont harm. If he is not eating and drinking you might consider using a 5ml or 10ml syringe [no needle] to dribblewater down the side of the tongue into the crop. I would give paediatric electrolyte solution -- you can buy sachets from your local chemist rather than plain water. The small amount of glucose can provide some energy.

Is there a friend who you could bring in the house to keep Pablo company -- that would probably be less stressful than being on his own.

Don't give up -- she is clearly a fighter! Sending good wishes and cyber hugs