sjaks
In the Brooder
- Nov 24, 2021
- 19
- 13
- 49
Hello fellow duckers! If anyone can please help on the current sad situation that my family is going through... Our family brought home two newly hatched pekin ducks, Ming-Ming & Ya-Ya, mid May. We brooded them in our home with 5 newly hatched chicks. Everything was going GREAT! My husband build a beautiful chicken coop along with a wonderful Quack Shack. All free range from sun up to sun down. Both 'Mings' and 'Yaz' were happy, beautiful, thriving girls. Ya-Ya took to me, I could call her from anywhere and she came enthusiastically running. She was my girl. We had one layer starting in Oct. and we suspected it was Ming-Ming due to her behaviors. Eggs were mostly found in the Quack Shack in the morning when I let them out. A little over a week ago I started noticing <in the evening> soft shelled eggs laying around the yard. Some where broken in half, some where just a soft shell sans insides, some where just the egg with no shell. In total I found approx. 4-5 of these 'off' eggs though read it is normal for a new layer. In addition to the new layer we are in the Midwest and during this time it was very cold, dropping to the low 20's at night. Last Wed. I noticed Ya-Ya off. Her crop was large and low, she was not eating, not forging, not quacking or chirping. That Thursday being Thanksgiving we scrambled to find care for her to no avail. We soaked her in the tub, swollen crop went down. She went back outside and crop swelled again. Soaked her in warm tub again and this time the crop stayed down. During this time she had black watery poops, still not eating or chirping. We made her an electrolyte and apple cider vinegar beverage which she enjoyed. We put her to bed in the quack shack with Ming-Ming and much to our delight Thanksgiving morning she greeted me with happy chirping, forging, and typical fun duck behavior. We were so relieved! Friday morning she came out of her shack in bad shape again though her crop was not swollen and soft. We made her another special beverage though was dinking very little, no eating. Friday her poop changed to a weird lime/bright green liquid. She was drinking very little. We drove her an hour to an emergency vet where she passed on the exam table. Sadly the vet did not even have the opportunity to do a full assessment before our beloved Yaz passed. We are all totally devastated. Amongst the devastation we muster up the strength to focus on Ming-Ming and what needs to be done to ensure she does not whither in sadness from losing her beloved sissy so, my husband found a farm with pekin ducks, approx the same age. Please keep in mind, our girls are hand raised and we went and picked up a farm duck that came from a flock of ~40 multi breed ducks. The new duck, "Sunny", is smaller, pale and not at all social. Upon initial introduction Ming-Ming attacked her, hoping she is just asserting her dominance. It's been 5 days and I cannot figure out what is going on with them. Ming-Ming seems mad. Sunny follows her everywhere and when she cannot find her she panics. Ming-Ming seems to tolerate her when no one is looking. The chickens give Sunny a hard time and Mings, just an uninterested bystander. Whenever I go out, she scurries Sunny away from me and gives me the sideways head bob with aggressive chirping. She doesn't come up to me rather runs away. Mings seems to be herding Sunny. Both Ming-Ming and Sunny are fine with my sons. Sunny, despite the chicken harassments, is doing fine. She hit the jackpot compared to her previous living arrangements. Does anyone have any insight into Ming-Mings behavior? Why am I being shunned? And or, thoughts on what could have happened to our beloved Ya-Ya?
