My Aylesbury/Pekin duck is having balance issues when she cleans herself

[JayinCohoes]

Hi All,

I have been researching this for more than 4 days which is when I first noticed her behavior and now I would love your feedback. Maybe there is something I am missing. The duck in question is a 5 month old Aylesbury/Pekin mix (a TSC mutt duck) who is eating and drinking fine and seems relatively normal until she preens herself. Then she seem s to loose her sense of balance almost as if she was drunk. I've spent hours watching her to see if there is any other symptoms and the only other thing I see is that she contracts her wings (for air movement) more than my other ducks. We have been in a heat wave here with temps 90+ for over 4 days and before that we have had a very wet summer. Other than the above symptoms she does not seem to be getting worse but does not seem to be improving either.

What I've done so far: I'm making sure there is no stagnant water anywhere in my yard. I am also changing their water every 2 hours. I've been giving all of my ducks additional frozen and fresh peas to monitor her appetite. I've also added brewers yeast to their layer feed for more niacin. I've checked her for being egg bound, checked for mites, worms and injuries. I made sure she was swallowing and eating properly. I just read today that Aylesbury ducks could suffer from a vitamin e deficiency so I just started giving her a vitamin e supplement. To make sure their feed wasn't the problem I completely replaced it with a new bag of layena Lay pellets. I have three other ducks who are symptom free.

I am trying to find a vet in my area but have not been successful. I'm thinking it could be a bacterial or fungus infection such as botulism but everything I've read gave a symptom of not being able to swallow which she has no problem doing. She does not have labored breathing although all of my ducks are panting from the heat.

I'd appreciate any feed back. I'd hate to find out that I missed something.
Thank you for reading and sorry for my long windedness.

Jay

 

[Amiga]

Jay, you have covered most of the bases that I would have thought of right off.

Bless you for being conscientious!

It does seem like it's either muscle weakness, or neurological, though I suppose it could be an ear infection.

Can you, just for a couple of days, bring her into a cooler place? This afternoon I brought my ducks in quite early, as they were getting rather antsy. It's been above 90 here, too, for days. I do the refresh of the kiddie pool, the frozen peas, making sure they have shade and food, and anything else I can think of.

If it's just the heat, getting her into a 70 to 75 degree place for a day or so could let you know if that improves her situation.

Meantime, I don't know much about treating ear infections in ducks, so you may want to look into how that might go. Even diagnosing it is something I don't know how to do.

 

[JayinCohoes]

thanks for replying. I seem to find a lot of people who have had similar issues but I can't seem to find anyone who knows how the problem was caused or what is the solution. It seems like the ducks either mysteriously get better or don't survive. I'll definitely search under ear infection. I just noticed that a soft shell egg was in my pool and she was the last one out but I can't say for sure that it came from her. They are getting oyster shells since they're now laying.

Thanks again for your feedback and I'd love even more if anyone has any ideas.

Jay

 

[Amiga]

I find that when it gets particularly warm - above 90 - I see more soft eggs. At least, that is what I am seeing now. I just keep wondering if it's the heat.

 

[JayinCohoes]

I find that when it gets particularly warm - above 90 - I see more soft eggs. At least, that is what I am seeing now. I just keep wondering if it's the heat.

I really hope you're right because it's supposed to cool down here starting tomorrow. I've been making my ducks dive in the 3 foot pool for frozen peas after I fill it with cold water. I got three eggs yesterday from my three females so I'm hoping that could eliminate being egg bound. I read yesterday that it's good to add apple cider vinegar to their water for better vitamin and mineral absorption.

Unfortunately she is still having a balance issue when she preens herself. I also noticed that she seems a little bloated compared to the other ducks. If she seems to be effected by the heat today I will bring her in for some A/C time but I don't want to add anymore stress if I can help it. I also read to add a small amount of epsom salt to the water to flush whatever she ate or drank out of her system but I didn't want to do this in the 90+ heat. I'm hoping that with all of the research and interventions I'm doing she'll be fine in the end.

Thanks again for you help Amiga. At least I don't feel like I'm doing this all by myself.

Jay

 

[Amiga]

Some bath time may help strengthen her leg muscles, too.

 

[JayinCohoes]

Just an update: She seems to be a little better with her balance but she still is not 100%. I have a feeling she will recover without knowing exactly what it was. But at least she didn't get worse. Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just an update: She seems to be a little better with her balance but she still is not 100%. I have a feeling she will recover without knowing exactly what it was. But at least she didn't get worse. Thanks again for the feedback.

great news. some things just remain a mystery

 

[JayinCohoes]

great news. some things just remain a mystery

thank you for the post. I'm still researching this though. She still is not 100%. I still notice her balance issue only when she preens herself and seems to always be chilling out and not as energetic as my other ducks. But she is eating and drinking without a problem and doesn't seem to be getting worse. This is the same duck that had a breathing problem as a duckling where she seemed to be gasping as though she had a blockage. Only time will tell.