OMG! I think i killed all my ducks! HELP!

[TwentyOneChickens]

Vomiting can be a life-saving reflex. It certainly saved these ducks; without it they likely would have gorged themselves to death. Too much of a good thing and all that.

I would honestly rather die than throw up.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

I would honestly rather die than throw up.

I know the feeling. But I don’t want to die, so on those rare occasions...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hope everyone is back to normal in West Virginia this morning

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

10. Cleaning up explosive duck diarrhea is a labor of love.

Good point!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So glad everything is fine. I would never thought about this happening. sorry you got scared like this. I have never seen a duck vomit and that would have freaked me the f out.
I put the ducklings in a pool yesterday afternoon and they hated it. Jumped out and pooped everywhere. Who every heard of ducklings that don't like water.

First time bath? - They might have been scared of so much water. Just try it again. - My Indian Runners ducks are terrified of water that comes from that garden-hose-snake. The new ducks love if i spray them during the oppressive afternoon heat, the Runners just run away and watch the scene from a safe distance, outside of the range of the spray nozzle.
Ducks!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hope everyone is back to normal in West Virginia this morning

Yes, everybody is back to almost normal, Thank you very much. - The duckies preferred to eat the cat-food over meal-worms this morning, all except Blanca, of course…

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I read somewhere that you have to put ducklings in the water from the palm of your hand so as not to mess up their waterproofing, or they'll sink. If you grab them in a pincer movement from above and set them on the water, you break the oil barrier on their down, and they have to get out and re-preen themselves, spreading oil from their oil gland. Worth a try anyway.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I read somewhere that you have to put ducklings in the water from the palm of your hand so as not to mess up their waterproofing, or they'll sink. If you grab them in a pincer movement from above and set them on the water, you break the oil barrier on their down, and they have to get out and re-preen themselves, spreading oil from their oil gland. Worth a try anyway.

Never had a duckling that would sit still enough on the palm of my hand when approaching the water surface. Most of them just jumped in.
I just dumped the spring ducklings into a kiddie pool full of luke-warm water and they had fun from the first moment on. They need to get wet as soon as possible because it is the water that triggers the oil production of the preening gland. Yes they get soaked very quickly and you should watch them at all time because they can drown even if they can stand in water.

 

[ShannonR]

I skimmed through the thread quickly, and didn't see this mentioned. Maybe I missed it! But I have my own theory on what happened with the grasshoppers...

Grasshoppers have hard, stickery, pokey little legs. And wings. Similarly to crickets, they will rub their legs together or against a wing to make a vibratory sound.

I think that what happened was that the grasshoppers were NOT toxic, but more like it must have been similar to eating fish hooks or thorns. That stuff probably stuck in their throats!

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Again, just thinking about eating something alive with prickly pokey legs (not to mention those huge buggy eyes and antennas) makes me want to hurl. I remember the first time I saw shrimp intact, I was like "Whaaaaaaat is thaaaaatttt...." all those dangly legs and feelers.
And I do NOT have a sensitive stomach. I will clean up any number of truly foul (fowl??) messes and never bat an eyelash. But don't make me eat anything alive. In fact, I may avoid crunchy egg rolls for a while, after having read this post... and I will never ever EVER eat a soft shelled crab served whole. I got one as a sandwich in a restaurant once (people swear they are delicious) and its little legs were dangling out of sides of the bun and its breaded eyes were LOOKING at me from under the top bun. Nope nope nope. Back it went.