My name is Zach, and I love wood ducks, but I'm having trouble raising wood ducks

[DobieLover]

Hello, Zach, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Sorry for your losses.

 

[zbrueningsen]

Welcome to BYC! I believe I just wrote back to your PM.
What exactly are you feeding your wood ducks, and could you post a photo of your pen?
I would definitely see if moving them away from those trees helps. Again, I'm really sorry about your birds. I know how hard that is to go through.

This is a view of the set up we have. That green bucket is full of K1 media and fed from an underwater pump. The pool is a 50 or 100 gallon rubbermaid tub. There is a solid metal roof. We have the backside tarped. The last picture is the bedding, which the stuff prior to today was just wood chips.

 

[zbrueningsen]

Food -
Purina flock raiser - 65% of the food
Total Care Wild Finch Blend - 20%
Flock Party Merry Minnows - 5%
Dumor Chick Grit - 5%
Meal worm - 5%

+ Foraging grass, dandelions and spinach

This is about the ratio we had been mixing lately.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, Zach and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Sorry to hear of your losses!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Tookie]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[Kiki]

Food -
Purina flock raiser - 65% of the food
Total Care Wild Finch Blend - 20%
Flock Party Merry Minnows - 5%
Dumor Chick Grit - 5%
Meal worm - 5%

+ Foraging grass, dandelions and spinach

This is about the ratio we had been mixing lately.

First...I don't know a thing about wood ducks.
I do know a thing about fatty liver disease and I do know if can kill quickly.

I am willing to bet the wild flinch blend, minnow stuff and meal worms are all extremely high in fat.
I'd stop feeding those 3 things in the amount you are feeding immediately.

 

[CrazyChicken360]

Hello and welcome to BYC! So sorry for your losses, you can find any answers you are looking for in this amazing community!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! It's very nice to meet you! Please make yourself at home!

 

[janiedoe]

Hello Zach, I'm so sorry for your losses. I hope you can find the answers you need, here at BYC

 

[swampfox440]

Hi, welcome to BYC! the only way to know for sure what the cause of death was, is to have a necropsy done. I would definitely get rid of those logs inside the run pen, they can harbor rat's mice and other harmful disease carrying creatures. You could put some tree branches off the ground a foot or so making a ladder effect. Also put a rock in your pool to hold it down. I hope this helps.