Lost a Duckling and Looking for Answers

[FarmerSeth]

Hello BYC,

I lost a duckling at 3 days old a couple weeks ago and I just can’t figure it out. She was fine, energetic. Then by noon she was acting lethargic, and in the evening she couldn’t stand, couldn’t control her head, and had head/leg spasms. Died within a couple hours. Any ideas?
-she seemed to be eating/drinking fine
-she had been in a brooder with week-old chicks most of the time since we brought her home. Didn’t notice any pecking or anything
-She had a protruding umbilical (belly button) that I was told was normal but looked pretty strange)

Anyway, I’m looking for ideas of what might have happened, as well as what I could have done differently to prevent this in the future. Thanks so much.

 

[333113]

I am sorry for your loss.

I have to say that having raised ducks for nearly ten years, I don't think a duck should have a protruding belly button. It may not have been a real problem if she were raised with other ducklings. While ducklings will not peck at a protruding belly button, chicks will. And chicks can cause some real damage to one another.

However, it's difficult to say whether that was definitely the problem. There is just not a body of knowledge on the causes of early death in poultry.

I would say for next time to get a couple of ducklings to keep together and separate from chicks, and check to make sure they look completely normal to you before you buy them.

 

[Isaac 0]

It's going to be hard telling without a necropsy, but a swollen abdomen and seizures leads to believe it may have been a yolk sac infection.

 

[Ratchnick]

Could always be genetics too.

 

[333113]

For future reference the Merck veterinary book is online. I have found that it's a major reference for vets who don't remember much about poultry from vet school.
I have a hard time navigating around in the book, partly because I am biology-word challenged. But here is the main book link.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/

What I do is do an internet search for the symptoms and add "Merck" to my search. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries. For example, when I typed in, "protruding belly button poultry duck Merck" I found this as the second link returned:

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/duck-viral-enteritis/duck-viral-enteritis

Fair warning, this can include graphic descriptions of how to necropsy to investigate the illness. But it has an enormous amount of information.

 

[FarmerSeth]

I am sorry for your loss.

I have to say that having raised ducks for nearly ten years, I don't think a duck should have a protruding belly button. It may not have been a real problem if she were raised with other ducklings. While ducklings will not peck at a protruding belly button, chicks will. And chicks can cause some real damage to one another.

However, it's difficult to say whether that was definitely the problem. There is just not a body of knowledge on the causes of early death in poultry.

I would say for next time to get a couple of ducklings to keep together and separate from chicks, and check to make sure they look completely normal to you before you buy them.

Thanks — yes. All good advice. This duck was an unusual circumstance and I got her all alone. I had considered that the chicks might peck her, but I took that risk as opposed to her possibly not thriving if she was alone.

the people I got it from said the belly button issue was common. You’ve never seen that on a duck before?

 

[FarmerSeth]

For future reference the Merck veterinary book is online. I have found that it's a major reference for vets who don't remember much about poultry from vet school.
I have a hard time navigating around in the book, partly because I am biology-word challenged. But here is the main book link.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/

What I do is do an internet search for the symptoms and add "Merck" to my search. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries. For example, when I typed in, "protruding belly button poultry duck Merck" I found this as the second link returned:

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/duck-viral-enteritis/duck-viral-enteritis

Fair warning, this can include graphic descriptions of how to necropsy to investigate the illness. But it has an enormous amount of information.

Gold mine! Thank you so much!

 

[333113]

Thanks — yes. All good advice. This duck was an unusual circumstance and I got her all alone. I had considered that the chicks might peck her, but I took that risk as opposed to her possibly not thriving if she was alone.

the people I got it from said the belly button issue was common. You’ve never seen that on a duck before?

No, I haven't. But I have had the same four lines of ducks for years, so maybe it's just not a common problem in my flocks. And maybe it's common in their flock. I have to say, though, that I haven't seen it in ducklings at the stores or swapmeets, either, or in my friends' ducklings.

When you think about it, each of us just has a small sample of the breed. That's why it's a good idea to do what you are doing, getting opinions and observations from different people.