Is my duck egg bound? Please help!

[bunandpancake]

Hi all,

I have a khaki Campbell duck, around five years old, who stopped laying a few months ago. We thought maybe it was stress as she had recently lost our other duck, so we have brought in two new ducks. Today I noticed a strange lump under her belly, it almost dragged along the ground, and I noticed her nibbling at her vent and wiggling her tail. She is moving around, and seems otherwise ok. Photos attached, she’s very shy so I couldn’t get too close so I wouldn’t spook her. Is she egg bound? Please help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

You need to pick her up and examine her from here it looks like fluid so feel
It and is it hard or squishy like fluid?

 

[bunandpancake]

You need to pick her up and examine her from here it looks like fluid so feel
It and is it hard or squishy like fluid?

I just went out and felt it, it wasn’t hard, it was squishy like fluid so you are right. Her vent was covered in poo as well. I’m hoping to take her to an avian vet on Monday but for now I want to help her in any way I can and make sure it isn’t life threatening.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like ascites https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...itions-of-poultry/ascites-syndrome-in-poultry. She will need to see a vet glad you have an avian vet to take her too.

 

[bunandpancake]

I haven't been on in a while, very sadly the duck, Bagel, passed away. Rest in peace little one! I took her to two vets, they were both exotics vets, and seemed quite good in general, but unfortunately I think ducks were out of their depth. (Ironically, the place where the Khaki breed was developed, Uley, is about an hour's drive from where I live in the UK-not very exotic at all!)

The first vet said it likely wasn't ascites, and put her on a course of antibiotics, which seemed to perk her up, but didn't help the swelling. About a month later, we took her to another practice, as that one was closed for lockdown. The vet there took a lot of the fluid out, and said it was yellow, and had a tiny bit of blood, but he thought that was likely just from where he'd inserted the needle. Miss Lydia, I do think you were right that it was ascites after all. He put her on another course of antibiotics, but really told us there wasn't much he could do. About two weeks after that, she became very withdrawn, and hiding in her house a lot. I had a feeling her time was coming, and sure enough, after a day she died. I don't blame the vets, there was nothing they could do really and ducks aren't understood nearly as much as other animals. Just a sad situation unfortunately. Thank you very much Miss Lydia for your help and advice!

 

[Isaac 0]

Sorry for your loss @bunandpancake . Thanks for coming back, and updating.