mysterious duck deaths

[jim verinis]

hello all. i have kept a dozen or two ducks and geese for about seven years now. i have had predators kill them before and they occasionally pick on each other to the extent that some of them have died over the years. this usually happens when i try to add adult ducks to the pack but never when i slowly integrate ducklings. anyway, this summer, five ducks have mysterious died from what i assume is some sort of illness. there is no sign of predators or competition. it seems like some sort of illness that moves quick. once or twice i have noticed a duck looking lethargic. and the next day i look they are dead. the strange thing is that it's one duck at a time- every two weeks or so. i have been in contact with Rhode Island DEM, where i live and they referred me to a lab at Uconn Storrs where i can bring a recently deceased duck that i have either refrigerated or frozen for tests. but the ducks are always so decayed and maggot-ridden that it is too late. I'm pretty bent up by all this and am hoping someone might have some experience with such a thing. i've never had something like this happen. it seems odd that it is one at a time rather than something that is killing more of them in a more random time frame. if i didn't know better, i'd say one is murdering another every two weeks. but again, there's little sign of this. thanks in advance, jim.

 

[ruthhope]

hello all. i have kept a dozen or two ducks and geese for about seven years now. i have had predators kill them before and they occasionally pick on each other to the extent that some of them have died over the years. this usually happens when i try to add adult ducks to the pack but never when i slowly integrate ducklings. anyway, this summer, five ducks have mysterious died from what i assume is some sort of illness. there is no sign of predators or competition. it seems like some sort of illness that moves quick. once or twice i have noticed a duck looking lethargic. and the next day i look they are dead. the strange thing is that it's one duck at a time- every two weeks or so. i have been in contact with Rhode Island DEM, where i live and they referred me to a lab at Uconn Storrs where i can bring a recently deceased duck that i have either refrigerated or frozen for tests. but the ducks are always so decayed and maggot-ridden that it is too late. I'm pretty bent up by all this and am hoping someone might have some experience with such a thing. i've never had something like this happen. it seems odd that it is one at a time rather than something that is killing more of them in a more random time frame. if i didn't know better, i'd say one is murdering another every two weeks. but again, there's little sign of this. thanks in advance, jim.

Sorry for your losses. I have no idea of the cause, but I share your pain

 

[Jenbirdee]

I am so sorry for your losses! I think the way to find out is to put a deceased duck in a plastic bag and into your refridgerator as soon as you find it dead. And then get the necropsy done, I hear states do them for under $20? Can you check on them more often or have someone else check on them more often so they wont be decayed before you find them?

 

[jim verinis]

i will try. i was doing that, then two weeks passed and i thought we might be done with it. then i found one yesterday. but i'm in there every day. couldn't have been dead more than 18 hours. covered in maggots.

 

[jim verinis]

Sorry for your losses. I have no idea of the cause, but I share your pain

thanks