My baby passed away

[jessanichele]

I don't understand what happened and I was wondering if maybe someone could help me to understand. I came home from work tonight and found my sweet girl dead in her pool. She was about 3 months and half almost all of her baby feathers gone. I know she knows how to get out as I've seen her do it tons of times already, but the weird thing is that she used to love the water when she was a baby but when she got big enough and we put her in the cool outside, she stopped wanting to be in the water. It's not cold out or anything. She had plenty of food and water. I just don't understand how this could have happened and I'm absolutely devistated. Thank you in advance.

 

[TLWR]

Sorry for your loss

By her feathers are gone do you mean they were pulled out?
Do you have any other ducks?

 

[jessanichele]

No they were gone and being replaced by her adult feathers. I have no other ducks but I do have some chickens.
And thank you.

 

[spiritbrook]

I would be devastated to loose any of mine. Only a few things I can think of. If it was really hot out she might have gotten weak and then succumbed. The hens were picking on her or something that might have chased her and so she stayed too long in the pool. Or perhaps she couldn't get out for another reason. My ducks have water that is deep enough to swim in but shallow enough to wade until every feather is there. At the moment my duck area is only pans that are this deep, everyone uses water just barely deep enough to swim but can be stood in. If it is deeper, there is always a rock or cinder block or something at the level of the top of the water. Part of this is in case a chicken or song bird falls in. The block is close enough to the side that an animal should be able to jump out if they can't fly out. One advantage to the shallow pans is I can replace the water nearly daily without husband complaining about the water bill. The ducks absolutely love clean water and dive under it and such. Replacing 50+ gals of water in a stock tank costs a bunch more to keep it that way.

I'm sorry that you lost her. I would be crying for days if I lost any of mine.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I don't understand what happened and I was wondering if maybe someone could help me to understand. I came home from work tonight and found my sweet girl dead in her pool. She was about 3 months and half almost all of her baby feathers gone. I know she knows how to get out as I've seen her do it tons of times already, but the weird thing is that she used to love the water when she was a baby but when she got big enough and we put her in the cool outside, she stopped wanting to be in the water. It's not cold out or anything. She had plenty of food and water. I just don't understand how this could have happened and I'm absolutely devistated. Thank you in advance.

You said she didn't like being in the water much anymore, so something must have made her want to go in. Maybe, like spiritbrook said, the chickens were picking on her or another animal came around and she got scared. How deep is the pool? Is it hard for her to get out even though she knows how?
I'm so sorry. If that happened to me, I would be devastated.

 

[jessanichele]

I used one of those plastic tubs that are used for storage, so it wasn't very deep at all, she could kinda stand in there.
Also I don't think it was the chicks, they all seem to treat her like mamma hen, they would follow her around and snuggle with her.
I did have a piece of wood in the tub (put between the two sides and held together by the walls) for the chicks to help them to get out if they fell in and that was dislodged so I don't know if maybe that made it harder for her to get out.
I don't think that any other animal could have gotten into the yard to mess with her. Plus the bird pin is 100% closed in.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I used one of those plastic tubs that are used for storage, so it wasn't very deep at all, she could kinda stand in there.
Also I don't think it was the chicks, they all seem to treat her like mamma hen, they would follow her around and snuggle with her.
I did have a piece of wood in the tub (put between the two sides and held together by the walls) for the chicks to help them to get out if they fell in and that was dislodged so I don't know if maybe that made it harder for her to get out.
I don't think that any other animal could have gotten into the yard to mess with her. Plus the bird pin is 100% closed in.

Was she sick or anything like that? Was she injured? Maybe the dislodged piece of wood was why, but I don't think that it was. If she could stand up in the tub, she could probably get out easily unless the sides were high compared to the water level.
I've heard of ducklings playing for a long time in the water and being too tired to get out, but yours was older ...
Well, I guess even if she wasn't little she still might have been too tired to get out since the wood was dislodged. I'm still stuck on the fact that she didn't care too much for water anymore ...

 

[spiritbrook]

I used one of those plastic tubs that are used for storage, so it wasn't very deep at all, she could kinda stand in there.
Also I don't think it was the chicks, they all seem to treat her like mamma hen, they would follow her around and snuggle with her.
I did have a piece of wood in the tub (put between the two sides and held together by the walls) for the chicks to help them to get out if they fell in and that was dislodged so I don't know if maybe that made it harder for her to get out.
I don't think that any other animal could have gotten into the yard to mess with her. Plus the bird pin is 100% closed in.

Well, sounds like you had the water safety handled. Sometimes they are simply frail and we don't know until they are gone - no matter the age. I would wonder why the step was dislodged, that's why I use bricks or rocks - I will be the only one able to move it, not the ducks.

 

[jessanichele]

Yeah, I plan to include bricks or rocks if I decide to have another duck (I want one again but I am not over it enough to think about getting another one yet).
She didn't seem to be sick or anything but I might not have known what to look for prior, but she was completely normal earlier that morning. I examined her to the best of my abilities after everything but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, broken bones, cuts, wounds, etc., and I didn't notice anything. I am hung up on the water thing still myself, I just don't understand how she could have drowned and why she was in the water when she didn't seem to like to be in there any more.