My pekin duckling lost its quack/voice

[completely_quackers]

Hi everyone, i'm a worried newcomer. my 6 week old pekin duckling woke up yesterday morning with hardly no voice or quack, and it was always very vocal. it does make a noise but very, very low. almost a whisper. besides this, it appears very healthy. i know is has not eaten anything it shouldn't have, so it doesn't have anything stuck in its throat. it can eat and drink just the same as before it lost its voice.

there does appear to be a little swelling(not a huge amount, and it may have only been the way it was holding its head) in the throat/neck area. it is currently sleeping in a large deck tub while the coop is being built(the duckling and some chicks were a rescue from a terrible school project). i'm wondering if it may have injured it neck on the rounded edge of the tub while i was carrying it out side.

any suggestions from anyone? any holistic approaches to reducing the swelling?

 

[Ducklove334]

is it drinking alot of water, like it's trying to wash somwthing down?


if not then most likely it's probably a drake

how old is it?

*eta: nevermind on the age LOL


look in it's throat for anyhting it might have tried to eat, if theres nothing there, then there you have it, it's a drake

 

[nivtup]

Congratulations!!

It's a boy.

 

[Wifezilla]

LOL

Exactly

He is becoming a man

 

[completely_quackers]

not sure how this reply will work, but here goes...

'daisy', as it was named 6 weeks ago, is drinking fine, not struggling to swallow or clear its throat, and it is eating with the same appetite as before. we take it out for feeding in the grass and stay with it while it eats, so i'm most certain it has not eaten another it shouldn't have.

i had read about them lossing their quack as the reach puberty, but i did not expect the quack to literally turn off over night. i miss it terribly. will it/he regain any noise making? are there any other signs of it definietly being a boy? at the same time that it/he lost his quack, it/he also started this subtle vibrating type motion with his head/neck...like a shiver. what is this odd behavior?

thanks to everyone who has replied. it has brought much relief to my worries. a couple more days and it/he will be in the coop with the other 2 ducks, rouens, and 6 chickens. soon we'll move the other 4 chickens in with them. i had no idea just how enjoyable this feathered creatures could be. i'm truly grateful for the experience!

 

[ducklover15]

I'm also curious about the vibrating thing. I'm pretty sure it's a normal behavior because I've had many ducks do it. But I still can't figure out if it's a sign of affection or aggression...

My old rouen female (who I raised all by herself from a hatchling) use to vibrate her neck whenever I sat down to her level and I would pet her. She never ran, and she would walk right up to me and sit on my lap. So I wonder if in her case it was affection?

But I have four little Call ducklings and I've seen two of them do that and usually it's followed by charging. My snowy duckling met my Mallard Drake through the fence and the duckling vibrated her neck then charged at the fence. I've also seen them attack my best friend when we were sitting in the grass with them. They've never done it to me but it was pretty funny to watch them do it to her. So I don't know it it's aggression or what...

 

[Wifezilla]

It seems to be something they do to try and assert dominance. The vibrating is usually followed by a neck flop.

 

[kittyhelene]

I also have a Pekin duck that seems to have lost her quack...she is definitely female as she lays me a lovely large egg every day. For the last few days she has been constantly making this odd noise. Could she have problems with the laying of an egg or something?

 

[Going Quackers]

I also have a Pekin duck that seems to have lost her quack...she is definitely female as she lays me a lovely large egg every day. For the last few days she has been constantly making this odd noise. Could she have problems with the laying of an egg or something?

Have you been able to look down her throat? is their an obstruction, i would also check for worms. Gape to be exact. That is usually done using a Q-tip, swab etc ... normally egg bound presents other symptoms.

 

[kittyhelene]

Thanks for the reply. I did get hold of her to have a look down her throat and couldn't see anything unusual, mind you I don't really know what to look for. I did notice tody while I was squirting them that she does seem to have a bit of an issue whilst trying to drink - kind of like she couldn't open and close her bill as normal (and slower than normal). She was unusually docile and easy to catch. I haven't checked for worms... Can you point me in the direction of how to do that, please?