My duckling has a bald neck! What do I do?

[EngelChen]

Help! My 22 day old duckling Engelchen has a bald spot on his throat just under his head. It seems itchy to him and is about the size of a nickel. What should I do? :-/

 

[RubberDuckee]

I would take him to a vet...
Is it skin and no feathers there?
Do you have a photo?

 

[Amiga]

Help! My 22 day old duckling Engelchen has a bald spot on his throat just under his head. It seems itchy to him and is about the size of a nickel. What should I do? :-/

Uh oh.

Please tell us all about where he lives and what and when he eats and drinks, and bath time.

Details about his environment and activities may give us more clues.

 

[EngelChen]

Well, he eats game bird feed, eats well, drinks well and has fresh water daily. He is an indoor duck and gets bath time nearly every day. Sometimes twice. He lives in a large rabbit cage with a bed area with a heat pad, towel, and a stuffed donkey to keep him company (he's an only duckling). I took him to the park about 4 days ago. I noticed there were a few ants here and there but made sure to put his play pen away from them. I'm wondering if he got bit. Also, the spot is bare but looks to be growing feathers back. There's tiny stubs sticking out of the skin. He's been scratching at that spot for quite awhile now. He's around 22 days old and reciently saw his sibling who my friend owns. The sibling isn't balding anywhere.

 

[duckman4450]

My mallard duckling had that too when he was about the same age but it was on the back of his neck. It almost looked like he got stitches. In my case, after a few more weeks the feathers grew in as he shed his baby feathers and his adult feathers came in, and he turned out to be beautiful. As stated above, you might want to go to a vet, but if that is out of your price range, I'd recommend waiting it out. If it still seems to bother him after a while, your only choice might be the vet. Keep us posted

 

[duckman4450]

Here is a picture of what my duck looked like : http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o556/duckman4450/ef249116.jpg

 

[EngelChen]

Thanks for all y'all's help I think I've figured it out. Like duck man said, I think he is just loosing his baby fuzz ^_^

 

[mlchilds]

Can you tell me how your duckling is doing now? I have a duckling that is just over two weeks old with the same problem. We're thinking that she just scratched off her down off. We have 8 other ducklings that are different breeds and don't have any bald spots on their necks.

The duckling is a Blue Swedish and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She doesn't appear to be sick and is eating/growing well. We noticed it yesterday because there was a little blood and there was a bald patch (which is why we think that she was scratching herself). We've started putting antibiotic salve on the bare patch.

All of the ducklings are given fresh water and food regularly and we swap out the pine shaving bedding daily. We've been letting them go outside during the day as it is warm and they seem to enjoy it.

Thanks and any advice from anyone would be appreciated.

 

[ali.khimm01]

Can you tell me how your duckling is doing now? I have a duckling that is just over two weeks old with the same problem. We're thinking that she just scratched off her down off. We have 8 other ducklings that are different breeds and don't have any bald spots on their necks.

The duckling is a Blue Swedish and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She doesn't appear to be sick and is eating/growing well. We noticed it yesterday because there was a little blood and there was a bald patch (which is why we think that she was scratching herself). We've started putting antibiotic salve on the bare patch.

All of the ducklings are given fresh water and food regularly and we swap out the pine shaving bedding daily. We've been letting them go outside during the day as it is warm and they seem to enjoy it.

Thanks and any advice from anyone would be appreciated.

Hi I’m having the same problem with my duckling Mellow. Mellow is about 2 weeks old and has pitched around his neck. I live in California so it’s warm, mellow gets daily baths fresh food and water and I clean the coop about 2 times a day.. not sure why there’s patches. What antibiotic are you using ??

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think what your seeing is normal Mellow is starting to lose it's down you should start seeing some pins coming in soon. Can you post a pic so we can see for sure.