I jinxed myself, now my Pekin is sick!

[cdnley]

A couple days ago I made a thread about my ducks bobbing their heads at me. I said that my Pekin is a big fat healthy duck. Well today I let them out of their pen and she was the last one out, walking quite slow. She slowly walked to the pond and is kind of sitting in one spot a lot. She is not really herself at all (not preening, diving, bobbing etc). She wagged her tail a few time but that is it.

She pooped before she went into the pond and it was white and green and clear without any blood and without anything that seemed odd. It seemed like normal duck poop to me anyway. She is not limping or favoring one side. Her legs seem okay and there is no blood visible on her feathers anywhere. Her eyes look okay and her bill looked normal (no weird discharge).

They do live outside in the pen. It is a mud ground and unfortunately I am getting a lot of muck and poo around the raised watering dish. I know there is a concern with botulism, but I will note it is dipping below freezing here at night. They free range in the day and at this time of year we get a few Canada geese coming through. The rest of the flock seems to be okay and are acting totally normal. She has mated with the males in the pond but she is only 5 months old.

Right now Mucky is on the pond with the others and reminds me of a floating decoy. I am not sure what I should do in this situation. Antibiotics, epsom salts, poly-vi-sol? Wait and see? I can't determine right now if she is eating, she was last night when I put her to bed. I have seen her drinking from the pond.

Any suggestions or experience?

Thanks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

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you say she is 5 months old, maybe she is preparing to lay an egg. Other than that watch today and see if she is for sure eating and drinking, you can buy a product called Poultry nutri drench with is awesome for giving them vits. and other needed things when they aren't feeling up to snuff. Please keep us updated.

 

[cdnley]

I never thought she could potentially be laying an egg. She is 22 weeks old, so right in the "sexually mature" age range. The temperatures here have been warm for the fall as well. Poor duck. I hope she will be okay. I will keep this post updated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Thanks!

 

[cdnley]

Last night I put some electrolyte in their water. She drank a bunch of water but I did not see her eating. She seemed a bit slow still, def not normal. I noticed her nostrils had some clear discharge coming from them, but could it have been water..she just had a sip of water minutes before. I hope she will be better today. I will keep you posted.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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[cdnley]

Today when I let them out she was still a bit slow but was making some noises, as opposed to very slow and no noises yesterday. Today she is preening and doing normal duck things in the water as opposed to just floating like a decoy yesterday. I hope that she continues to improve.
I have no idea what happened to her, whether she was ill or stressed out from something.

I cleaned up all the excess feed from the pen and sanitized the water bowl and food dish (again). I also blocked off the muddy area so it can dry out.

Hopefully the electrolyte combo helped too. I will do it again tonight.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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Glad to hear she has inproved. and I bet the electrolytes have helped. They are pretty tuff so hopefully she'll keep going in the right direction.

 

[Amiga]

Ditto on vitamins. Some like to add some apple cider vinegar to drinking water as a tonic. Can you give her a few treats to make sure she's getting calories? Can you feel her legs to see if they're unusually warm (sign of infection)?

 

[cdnley]

I saw her chowing down yesterday as well, so that is good! I will buy some vitamins to add to the water as well, what brand do you suggest? I will buy some apple cider vinegar as well. I will have to read up on how to give that to them.