Impacted Crop on Duckling

[jaramos]

Hi, this is Donald, we found him loitering by himself on the road and decided to take him home. He's been with us for a week now and because I have no idea what to feed him as we were not prepared to have a duckling border in our home I've been feeding him uncooked rice grains these past days. But just today I started to feed him duck pellets. My concern is his very bulging crop, is this normal? He does get thristy often. And I'm concern I'm also overfeeding him. He cries (or I think he did) when he's hungry and thats often, so I gave him rice. And he pooooppps a lot, every 10 minutes or so

 

[DuneDucks]

Is it always bulging like that? They'll get bigger as they eat but should clear. Anytime you feed Donald anything other than duck feed he needs to be given grit as well. Probably chick grit at his size. I would cut out the rice too if you've gotten pellets at this point. Just leave a container down for him to eat free choice.

Ducks are flock animals so he's likely going to cry a lot as long as he gets left alone. He'll always want to be with other ducks. A mirror or a stuffed duck can help a bit with that.

Donald is a cute one! It's great that you rescued you him. Feel free to ask any other questions you have too. People on here love to help!

 

[Jenbirdee]

here’s a helpful article about raising ducks https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introduction-to-keeping-ducks.67402/

 

[Yardmom]

Are the pellets you have for adult ducks or for ducklings? Some foods are just for adults and some are for young birds.
Personally I feed my ducklings all flock crumble that is for all ages, but it is a crumble so it has small pieces for the little ones.

 

[jaramos]

Is it always bulging like that? They'll get bigger as they eat but should clear. Anytime you feed Donald anything other than duck feed he needs to be given grit as well. Probably chick grit at his size. I would cut out the rice too if you've gotten pellets at this point. Just leave a container down for him to eat free choice.

Ducks are flock animals so he's likely going to cry a lot as long as he gets left alone. He'll always want to be with other ducks. A mirror or a stuffed duck can help a bit with that.

Donald is a cute one! It's great that you rescued you him. Feel free to ask any other questions you have too. People on here love to help!

I think he "imprinted" on our senior dog. He won't sleep unless he's with him lol. But he occassionally cries when someone leaves the room though he stops when he sees our dog

The bulge is more prominent after eating or drinking but this is the biggest bulge I have seen on him. Though I occassionally massage his bulge when I worry, is that okay?

I'm thinking of not giving him food for a day, only water to let the bulge subside, is it a good idea?

 

[jaramos]

here’s a helpful article about raising ducks https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introduction-to-keeping-ducks.67402/

Thanks for this. I really need this

 

[jaramos]

Are the pellets you have for adult ducks or for ducklings? Some foods are just for adults and some are for young birds.
Personally I feed my ducklings all flock crumble that is for all ages, but it is a crumble so it has small pieces for the little ones.

Actually I'm not really sure, but judging from the size of the pellets I'm assuming they are meant for adults, so when I fed Donald earlier I crushed the pellets, scared that he will choke

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hi, this is Donald, we found him loitering by himself on the road and decided to take him home. He's been with us for a week now and because I have no idea what to feed him as we were not prepared to have a duckling border in our home I've been feeding him uncooked rice grains these past days. But just today I started to feed him duck pellets. My concern is his very bulging crop, is this normal? He does get thristy often. And I'm concern I'm also overfeeding him. He cries (or I think he did) when he's hungry and thats often, so I gave him rice. And he pooooppps a lot, every 10 minutes or soView attachment 3758515

Hey I wanted to mention that your duckling looks really young like maybe only 2 weeks so he needs to have warm temperature around between 75 and 80 degrees . dont let him get any colder than that and no swimming yet until his crop gets smaller. Get grit asap or at least some sand or dirt that has little bits of rocks in it so he can eat some and get the tiny rocks into his crop, that will help him break up and digest all the rice in there .

 

[DuneDucks]

The bulge is more prominent after eating or drinking but this is the biggest bulge I have seen on him. Though I occassionally massage his bulge when I worry, is that okay?

As long as you're being gentle that should be okay. As long as his crop seems to be clearing, and he isn't drooling a lot when he drinks, I wouldn't worry too much about that. You'll definitely want to get him some grit so he can clear out any rice that might be stuck though.

I'm thinking of not giving him food for a day, only water to let the bulge subside, is it a good idea?

Maybe for a few hours if you're really worried but I probably wouldn't go a full 24. Depending on how long he went without proper feed he could be a bit nutrient deficient, so you really do want him eating as much of his own duck food as possible at this stage. What brand of feed do you have for him?

 

[Jenbirdee]

speaking of nutrient deficient it would probably be a good idea to get him some poultry vitamins too