OMG!!! What just happened to my duckling??

[shelleyd2008]

I was cleaning brooder boxes and sat down for a minute to rest my back. I heard what sounded like something running out on the porch and babies crying. Well, it wasn't baby chicks, it was baby ducks. And it was inside. Something had freaked them out badly!!!

I went in there and looked in the box, and one was on its back. I figured, in all the comotion, it had fallen over and was having trouble righting itself. Nope, it was the commotion!!

When I picked it up, it was holding its head back as far as it would go, with its neck stretched out. After holding it for a few minutes, it seems fine.

I was sure it was seizing and dying, but now it is good as new. What gives?

 

[spookyevilone]

Quote:
I had a coturnix do that after it fell. It smacked hard on the ground and did the seizure wannabe thing, and then an hour later, was perfectly fine. Maybe some sort of fall or shock?
-Spooky

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

call ducklings do flip on their back and die. It is pretty common. We try to keep a good eye on them for the first week until they get stable on thier feet. They are so round and short they loose thier balance and flip.

eta: I guess you didn't say they were call ducks, but I guess it could happen to any of them.

 

[Wifezilla]

It could have been a seizure. That would explain the other ducks freaking out.

 

[nettie]

i had a little black runner ceize up on me like that. Ceisures in baby ducklings can happen for a couple reasons-

*Botchulism (sp?) causes them. They i doubt your duckies ate rotten food.

*Medicated feed causes a lack of absorbtion of vitamins like B vitamins which can cause them too (along with whole slew of other problems). Is your feed unmedicated?

*The last reason and the most likely is a birth defect.

One of my runners ate the right food, was no where near rotting anything, and still died of ceizures anyways. He did the same thing with the neck all the way back. If this is the one that cries when you put him in the water, it might just be the birth defect. now that i think of it, my little black runner didn't like swimming all that much ether. He never went under the water or swam around. Mine only lived to be about 6 days old.

I'd keep an eye on the little guy. Maybe put him in a cardboard box and keep him with you in the house. That way he won't freak out the other ducklings, and so someone will be there with him is he passes.

 

[shelleyd2008]

That's exactly what it seemed like, a seizure. It was flopping around on its back with its head and neck stretched back as far as it would go. After a few minutes of me holding it, it was just fine. It is now outside with the other ones, and if it weren't for a white spot on its neck, I wouldn't even know which one it was.

No, it's not a call duckling, it's a 4 week old cayuga..

 

[nettie]

is he the one who doesn't like to swim?

 

[redhen]

ooh poor baby! i wonder what happend!

is he fine now? is it the one that dosent like to swim?

 

[Laskaland]

I've heard of fainiting goats, but a fainting duck???
Sorry to joke! I hope it's doing okay!!
Hugs
me

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I'm not sure, but I don't think it's the same one. This one is a cayuga/rouen mix, and has black and yellow feet, so I am able to pick it out of the group. The one that can't swim is pure black, like the other 2 are, so I'm not sure which one it is.