Odd duck behavior- shaking head, wheezing

[Violet_fly]

Looking for advice- possible sick duck. On thanksgiving we noticed our year old Silver Appleyard, Helen was having trouble laying an egg (this has never happened before to our knowledge) she was lethargic, a little swollen and tail bobbing/ straining. Her vent looked normal and we watched her poop but kept a close eye on her. Thankfully within an hour she laid her egg and was back to normal behavior. This morning we noticed similar yet new symptoms. She wasn’t tail bobbing but drinking a ton of water, shaking her head, wheezing, regurgitating white watery stuff and her poop was similar- white and watery. We brought her inside and drew her a warm bath. Her wheezing got a little worse (I imagine due to stress). We checked her airway, vent and tried to feel for an egg but couldn’t feel anything. About 30 minutes later the wheezing and regurgitating completely stopped and now she’s preening, pooping normally and seems all together fairly normal. Although she is still shaking her head.

Any suggestions/ thoughts? I’m confused if this is an egg problem, respiratory issue, parasites or what?

 

[OneEggToRuleThemAll]

Could something have been stuck in her throat but not blocking her airway (like a stick or wood chip, etc.)? Maybe these are two unrelated issues? I am a brand new duck owner and normally wouldn't reply to a thread like this because I obviously don't have experience, but it caught my attention because my week old Blue Swedish duckling eats some of the chopped straw in the brooder (None of the other ducklings do this! Frustrating!), and yesterday after eating a 1/2 inch piece of straw, she started shaking her head, wheezing, and bringing up lots of stringy saliva! I was so worried! I wanted her to drink water or eat to wash it down, but she wouldn't...she just kept shaking her head and bringing up saliva. I didn't know what to do, but I could see that she was still breathing (so I knew nothing was blocking her airway), so I just kept an eye on her, and after about half an hour, she was completely back to normal and started eating and drinking again.

I hope your sweetie has completely recovered and has no further issues!

 

[Violet_fly]

Could something have been stuck in her throat but not blocking her airway (like a stick or wood chip, etc.)? Maybe these are two unrelated issues? I am a brand new duck owner and normally wouldn't reply to a thread like this because I obviously don't have experience, but it caught my attention because my week old Blue Swedish duckling eats some of the chopped straw in the brooder (None of the other ducklings do this! Frustrating!), and yesterday after eating a 1/2 inch piece of straw, she started shaking her head, wheezing, and bringing up lots of stringy saliva! I was so worried! I wanted her to drink water or eat to wash it down, but she wouldn't...she just kept shaking her head and bringing up saliva. I didn't know what to do, but I could see that she was still breathing (so I knew nothing was blocking her airway), so I just kept an eye on her, and after about half an hour, she was completely back to normal and started eating and drinking again.

I hope your sweetie has completely recovered and has no further issues!

That’s what I was wondering too- a partial obstruction. it would make more sense that she just stopped wheezing and returned to almost normal behavior so suddenly. Perhaps she’s just had a string of bad luck these past few days. So scary to hear the wheezing. Your poor duckling! I’m glad she’s okay. Thanks for your response.

 

[Jenbirdee]

what do you feed her ? do you provide oyster shell on the side free choice? a calcium deficiency is a possibility. there is a product called calcium gluconate. It’s a liquid they sell it at tractor supply. Also online places like Amazon. Occasionally I see one of my ducks doing the laying off by herself. Tail bobbing, seeming to be straining to lay an egg and or laying a soft shell egg and that’s when I give calcium gluconate one ML orally. using a syringe without a needle of course if you’ve never done that before be sure to watch a tutorial so you know the procedure and don’t accidentally aspirate your duck. there is a sticky thread at the top of the ducks forum how to give medicine to all waterfowl I would paste a link to it here, but with my cell phone, I can’t figure out how to paste links like I do on my laptop
ETA https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/ here it is it was in the articles section