Lethal Duck Genes?

[TK Poultry]

ok ive hatched 7 swedish ducks and i have had 4 unexpected deaths and they have all been black ducklings and they have been very unexpected ill go in to give them water or give them feed and then maybe a half hour later i go out there and i have a passed away duckling and there have been no signs no symptoms pre mortem and no indication of cause of death post mortem so i have no idea wat is killing off my ducklings i thought maybe it would be a lethal gene but im not aware of any in swedish ducks......i have 3 left 2 blues and a black and i only had one egg layer at the time and that was a black duck and i had two drakes in with her so the blues arent the black drakes so i wondered if it was a black x black problem?????? im not feeding medicated feed and i water them 3 times a day and the are plenty warm so i dont know what is causing this and it is really destressing b/c this is my first hatch from my ducks and im about to die b/c i cant keep them alive but i dont think the problem is me though! any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Please review this site:

http://www.duckhealth.com/duckhlth.html

 

[Soccer Mom]

For them to die so quickly sounds like some sort of toxin. Anyway they could have gotten into anything?

And it's funny you mention the blacks. I remarked to my husband last year that blues seemed to be hardier than blacks. I lose the most splash, then blacks. But I don't know of any lethal gene associated with Swedes. This is just based on my own experience.

 

[TK Poultry]

i havent ever hatched the swedes before but ive raised several all black and one splash and my splash is the father of my blues!! but its not a toxin i dont think b/c ive had them since hatch so i dont think its a toxin the only black led me to go more toward genetic but i just had a blue pass so toxin fits but i dont think toxins are the case b/c i cant think of anything they would have gotten into........... im trying to think but i got nothing im just going mad b/c i had a 88% hatch and only have 2 ducklings left. is there any genetic disease associated with swedes? b/c im not sold on toxins and its not the hutch b/c i have chickens in the neighboring hole FYI the hutch is in my garage i have a pic if you would like

 

[Soccer Mom]

Hmmm, how old are the ducklings? Is there a chance of any sort of mold? I know how messy they are. Mold can sneak up in suprising places.

 

[TK Poultry]

could Colibacillosis fit?
but im very cautious in my sanatation they dont come in contact with any fecal matter what so ever

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
The problem with a lot of "backyard flocks", mine included, is that our birds are in contact native species. Any diseases these wild animals are carrying can be easily transmitted to the ones in captivity.

 

[TK Poultry]

Quote:
they are almost 4 weeks they will be 4 weeks on friday! mold would explain it my all the nasty stuff falls through the wire of the hutch! but i will look out there for molds and things b/c that would cause me some problems

 

[Soccer Mom]

It's possible that they have picked something up from older fowl which their young bodies simply can't fight off.

I take everything out of the brooder and scrub it down, just in case.

I'm sorry about your hatchlings.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I have raised black and chocolate swedes for years and never had any problems with either colour being weaker then the other.

Toxin would be my guess, I had waterfowl die because the feedstore gave me a bag of duckstarter that had gone bad. not moldy(at least not from what i could tell), they just had it store for like 2 yrs and it didn't smell quite right(I did not know that at the time, cause first time ever I bought waterfowl feed) but everything I fed it to keeled over dead within a day or two.