Is this normal? (with video)

[Rebeccagane]

Short backstory:

The duck in question is a 3 year old call duck, which I bought a month or two ago. I introduced her to two existing ducks, a drake and a hen that are both a lot younger than her (roughly 9 months old). Both hens are laying, though not what I would call regularly

The possible problem:

When she stands still she seems to constantly twitch her wings and fan her tail, like she can't help it. She's been exhibiting the behaviour quite a bit, at first I thought it might be stress from the new environment but she's carried on. The drake is a slight nuisance but only chases her for a few seconds before giving up. Maybe it still is but I just wanted another opinion!


Video: She is the duck furthest away on the left... you'd probably notice her anyway! Tried to make the video as clear as possible without her diving into the pond!

 

[WildWestChick]

Hmmm I'm no expert by any means lol but she does seem extra twitchy. :/ I wonder if she could have a neurological problem.

 

[Rebeccagane]

It did cross my mind :s. I've seen very few examples of it anywhere else. Though it's not constant, she does do it quite a bit.

 

[WildWestChick]

I dunno...maybe she is just extra fidgety, or has duck OCD. Lol

 

[pinusresinosa]

Is gapeworm a possibility?

 

[Rebeccagane]

She is kind of gaping in the video, but I'm pretty sure that's just her moving her food along in her system, she tends to scoff her food quickly because the drake can be a pain and chase her away. The twitching has been since I got her so I don't think they're related.

 

[mariehanson]

My ducks tend to do the wing twitching when they are warm. Even when it is cold outside, if they have been chasing each other around the garden or been energetically splashing in the pond, they will twitch their wings. I wasn't sure if ducks sweated and assumed this was their cooling off technique, like a dog panting. I may be wrong though? Anyone else have a suggestion?

 

[pinusresinosa]

My ducks also twitch their wings, sort when they're preening mostly or being especially active as you said.

The gaping is what's worrying me about this duck. Gapeworm is easy to diagnose and treat too. Check her throat, feel her crop... she just might have something sort of stuck in there. Is she still doing this today?

 

[Crystinek]

I have one Pekin duck. I have had her for 4 years but I really know very little about ducks. Peck is constantly twitching and fanning her tail. She likes to stand up tall and flap her wings letting all the other birds and the dogs know that the yard is her space.

I have never heard of gape-worm but would really like to know more. She does sometimes do the same thing with her mouth but I just figured that she had a dog hair or something in her mouth since she sometimes coughs afterwards.

 

[Amiga]

What concerned me a little was how she is holding her tail down a bit. Has she been laying? Has the drake been mating with her? The wing twitching can be a sign of nervousness, or it can be a cooling off behavior, or a drying the wings after a swim behavior around here.

I believe you can have her feces tested for parasite eggs and that would tell you if she has gapeworm. I would not rule it out. If you have a vet, that is probably the best thing. But for many reasons a vet is not always an option.