Hey fellow duck lovers. Yesterday I said goodbye to one of my Muscovy ducks, Daphne. She died after a long bout with a respiratory illness of some kind. My question today is about her sister Gigi. Gigi has been standoffish the last few days, and I noticed yesterday was not interested in eating. Since her sister died she has been very lethargic and not interested in any of the normal duck activities, and won't eat, but she is drinking. I have been focused on her sister for so long, I'm not even sure how long she has been not eating. Today I fed her with a syringe and she took it ok and is drinking on her own fine.
The thing is, it's hard for me to tell if she is infected with the same thing her sister had or not. Her sister had a bad cough for a couple weeks that eventually went away, but then a short time later she started to have labored mouth breathing. Even in this condition she was still eating and bathing, but finally the last week she stopped eating entirely and had to be syringe fed. So Gigi has none of the respiratory symptoms. She is just being lethargic and not eating. The only physical sign I see is that her red caruncles are starting to look scaly which is how Daphne's looked for the last few weeks.
What are your thoughts, is she sick with the same illness, should I quarantine her from the rest of the flock and start treating her for a respiratory illness immediately even if she is not showing signs of infection, or should I assume she is just sad, and continue to hand feed her, but let her roam with the rest of the flock and hope her spirit refreshes? Thanks for your thoughts, I really don't want to lose another duck, burying one yesterday was very hard on me.
The thing is, it's hard for me to tell if she is infected with the same thing her sister had or not. Her sister had a bad cough for a couple weeks that eventually went away, but then a short time later she started to have labored mouth breathing. Even in this condition she was still eating and bathing, but finally the last week she stopped eating entirely and had to be syringe fed. So Gigi has none of the respiratory symptoms. She is just being lethargic and not eating. The only physical sign I see is that her red caruncles are starting to look scaly which is how Daphne's looked for the last few weeks.
What are your thoughts, is she sick with the same illness, should I quarantine her from the rest of the flock and start treating her for a respiratory illness immediately even if she is not showing signs of infection, or should I assume she is just sad, and continue to hand feed her, but let her roam with the rest of the flock and hope her spirit refreshes? Thanks for your thoughts, I really don't want to lose another duck, burying one yesterday was very hard on me.
