Khaki hen dead!?

[secuono]

She was alive and fine just 2hrs ago! Now she is stiff as a board, laying flat, feet back, wings slightly out to the side, slight foam/bubbles of drool coming from her mouth down her throat. Her butt has runny brown poo, good weight, no feathers out of place.

2hrs ago I saw her and her sister walking about. One of the two was keeping the other from the pool of water for a few mins, but eventually they were all fine and sharing.

WTF??!?

I've never lost a duck, what the heck happened?


AND! My big rooster started limping yesterday, today he stayed in the chicken yard all day....ugh, what is going on?!

I'm going to cry my face off tonight. Anyone know what might of happened to the duckie? I saw that 15 ppl viewed, but no one can help?

 

[desertdarlene]

Oh, I'm so sorry. Only thing I can think of is either she ate something toxic or she was bitten by a snake or something else with venom, perhaps a black widow (perhaps she tried to eat one and it stung her).

 

[learycow]

I wish I could help!
I had this happen to one of my WH hens this past spring. She was healthy and running around, then dead when I went out a few hours later.

Sometimes these things are a mystery!

 

[NovaAman]

sorry...

 

[rancher hicks]

They do have a "stickie" with a list of questions to answer that might give some idea of what was going on. Ex. age? breed? etc. etc. I don't have so I can't say and can only ask questions that might give a clue as to what happened.

So I will ask.

What pool of water? Your pool? Clean water? Any leaves get in there? Any medicated chicken feed around? Fenced in? Anything in the mouth? Laying age?

Not familiar with duck diseases but. Any kind of stress things going on? Chased by dog, kids or whatever? Any broken bones? Soft spots on the body? Anything under the feathers?

Have you given or fed anything new or different? Vitamins or meds or wormers?

As for the rooster. Sometimes the roosts are too high. Could this be the case? I'd shut him up away from the others for a while to rest his leg. Look for swelling on the affected leg. Any stressors? Being chased or jumping from high places? Sometimes they get a bump and bruise a leg now and then.

I'm not sure how hardy ducks are compared to chickens but with all the breeding and what not, it seems to me it is not uncommon to lose the occasional bird. Now if you started losing lots of birds or seeing symptoms of disease then I'd be concerned. Hens especially have reproductive issues that don't become apparent until near laying time.

Vitamins in large amounts can cause kidney problems and should be used sparingly. Never as a cure.

Hope some of this helps,

Rancher

 

[silkiechicken]

Sorry for your loss.

Let's keep this in the Emergency section. Good luck.

Linkie to Emergency section post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7699361#p7699361