My Female Duck lost her voice

[skate777]

Sookie is a Swedish Blue we adopted about 2 months ago. She hangs out with our three chickens (hens) and is a very vocal, happy, and affectionate bird. Not sure how old she is, but she laid eggs for the previous owner and has been laying an egg every day for us for about 3 weeks. Just yesterday I let the girls out of the henhouse and Sookie was uncharacteristically quiet. She was excited and energetic and ready for action, and behaved in every way normal throughout the day except she had very little voice. At times, she could quack loudly, but her soft chattering was all breathy rasps, like a person with laryngitis. Nothing seems to have changed in her eating, drinking, pooping, or laying habits. She seems to shake her head a lot after getting a drink. I have her isolated in a spare bathroom in the house since last night where she can swim in the tub if she wants to. Dewormed with Safe Guard in case of gape worms, but she eats and drinks just fine so probably not gape worms. Also started on a tetracycline antibiotic. Any advice? She wants to get back out and run around and do all her usual ducky things, but she just can't quack. This is my first duck ever, and I'm pretty new to the chickens too. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Amiga]

When Carmella lost her quack, the first thing I did was try some apple cider vinegar in their water. Had her checked by a vet, then decided (I am not a vet) to try just a few drops of colloidal silver in her drinking water. Next day she started getting her voice back.

A few cautions - colloidal silver is nothing to mess around with - it is for short term use only, and a little goes a long way. But it is an antimicrobial. Now whether she would have gotten her voice back without it we will never know.

Your duck shaking her head indicates to me the has something in her throat or the back of her mouth. Can you take a look in there? I seem to recall someone finding a piece of wire or something stuck in the roof of her duck's mouth . . . so something could be in there.

Or, if there are drakes, she may have had her neck over the edge of something while mating and had her neck injured from that.

 

[skate777]

Thanks! She slept with the hens last night and I followed her around a little this morning. She seems to be fine... but still no quack. I don't see her shaking her head but she let me feel all up and down her throat and there was no sign of discomfort or any odd lumps. If I see her start shaking her head again I'll get some help and look down her throat.
I've be been adding apple cider vinegar to her water. I saw other threads about the colloidal silver so if there's no improvement today I'll have to get my hands on some. It's been pretty wet here and she's been free ranging more and there's something in the mud she really loves to eat. Maybe an antimicrobial makes a lot of sense.

Thanks so much! I never thought I'd miss that non-stop quacking, but I do!

 

[Kimmyh51]

Hi just wondering what the outcome was? My female is starting to lose her voice, sounds as if shes quacking under water...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any other symptoms that might look like respiratory?