One Lonely Pekin

[Goose Girl Farms]

Hey!

Around 5 weeks ago, we purchased two ducklings at Tractor Supply to go with our 17 chicks. We are new to poultry (probably a little obvious haha). Everything was going great at first. The ducks bonded and never left each other’s side. Then, one of our ducks got sick. We are concerned it may be a degenerative disease and we don’t think he will live much longer. We separated him from the flock and he is in a large bucket inside. It’s almost like he is having spasms or seizures? He keeps opening and closing his mouth and moving his tongue in a strange way. Now the other duck is living with the chickens in the brooder outside. Every time I go out there, she looks lost and lonely. She had to go through two large changes recently (being without the other and the brooder being moved outside) so it wasn’t really fair to her. She used to follow me around in the garden and now she just runs around everywhere, lost. TSC is done with ducklings for the year but Southern States will have them this afternoon or tomorrow. So the question is ... should I adopt two ducklings and keep them inside until they are old enough to be in the same pen so she has company in a month or so? Or should I wait and try to get a domestic duck from a nearby rescue once the coop is built? They do say their adoption process can take up to a few months and they are very picky about who they let adopt. Or will she be okay alone with the chickens, assuming the other duck dies? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Goose Girl Farms]

Hey!

Around 5 weeks ago, we purchased two ducklings at Tractor Supply to go with our 17 chicks. We are new to poultry (probably a little obvious haha). Everything was going great at first. The ducks bonded and never left each other’s side. Then, one of our ducks got sick. We are concerned it may be a degenerative disease and we don’t think he will live much longer. We separated him from the flock and he is in a large bucket inside. It’s almost like he is having spasms or seizures? He keeps opening and closing his mouth and moving his tongue in a strange way. Now the other duck is living with the chickens in the brooder outside. Every time I go out there, she looks lost and lonely. She had to go through two large changes recently (being without the other and the brooder being moved outside) so it wasn’t really fair to her. She used to follow me around in the garden and now she just runs around everywhere, lost. TSC is done with ducklings for the year but Southern States will have them this afternoon or tomorrow. So the question is ... should I adopt two ducklings and keep them inside until they are old enough to be in the same pen so she has company in a month or so? Or should I wait and try to get a domestic duck from a nearby rescue once the coop is built? They do say their adoption process can take up to a few months and they are very picky about who they let adopt. Or will she be okay alone with the chickens, assuming the other duck dies? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Also, I forgot to add I do not know the gender of either of the ducks so I am a little concerned about having one drake in a flock of chickens? But then again, if I get ducklings, I still may not end up with a female.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I would order some ducklings sexed from a hatchery so you get females and put them together when the little are big enough. Is there something I can help with for the sick duck?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your duck could be suffering from a niacin deficiency. Can you give info on what your feeding them? How long your duckling been like this?

 

[Goose Girl Farms]

Thanks for the responses! He doesn’t have a niacin deficiency since we have been giving them extra niacin along with the chick feed they are eating. They also get plenty of greens though the sick one doesn’t eat them right now. The other duck seems really healthy so I doubt it is something they are eating. He has been like this for about a week or two. We were giving him an antibiotic and he was slowly getting better so we weren’t too worried and then on Sunday he started going downhill again. He had just been starting to walk again but then on Sunday he seemed unable to control his movements. He’s doing this weird tongue spasm that is hard to explain. It isn’t the same as panting because the other duck has done that before and it looks very different. He can’t support his weight at all again so we either lay him down in the container or hold him like a baby. He can’t even stand with us supporting him because his legs move involuntarily at times. It’s hard to see him like this because he’s the sweetest duck ever and we thought he was recovering. He doesn’t seem in pain to me but more out of it. I’m thinking it’s either a degenerative disease or he got hurt by the other chickens/duck since we put him back in the brooder with them. We did hear a large commotion in there on Sunday morning and lots of birds were jumping around and everything so I am worried he might have gotten hurt in the process. We should have waited longer to return him to the rest of the flock. There is always the small chance he will get better and that is what I’m praying for.

 

[nao57]

You didn't clearly state what age these ducklings are.

I'm guessing you got them around a week old, and then +5 would make roughly 6 weeks?

If the duck really is lonely it wouldn't hurt to try to put other ducklings with her? You could monitor them and see how it turns out.

But you should know some people say muscovies like to be alone. I don't know if that's true or not. You could ask here. But that may mean if you were trying to get 1 or 2 more to solve a loneliness issue then it might not fix it.

If you have friends with ducks you could borrow one, and have it brought over to see what the reaction would be by putting them together.

I have 2 chickens with my ducklings and it works fine. But my situation may be different because with me there's more ducks than chickens, and the ducks are bigger. With you its completely opposite.

I wish you luck.

PS edited in later; another thing I thought of that sometimes happens...

Occasionally I'll hear a duck yelp from the pen. And it may come from them accidentally stepping on each other without meaning too. This may be an issue with size differences.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd still rec trying Liquid B complex it is such a great product for our ducklings when they are having issues that pertain to walking and neurological issues . ETC
Durvet Liquid B complex at TSC is the best, and if the duckling is eating 1ml over a tasty treat gives the duckling the full dose and possibly a chance. This is what i am talking about only thing the label is darker now but same product. It will say injectable but we use it orally for our birds.

 

[Goose Girl Farms]

She’s a pekin and I’m guessing she’s 5-6 weeks old. Hard to know since I don’t know how old they are at TSC. I wanted to get some more ducklings today but my family wants to wait until the coop is built since they are all still in the brooder. I would just put them in with the chicks and duck but I am worried she would step on them. She’s very clumsy and accidentally stepped on the sick one at least once when she was just trying to sleep beside him. She is double his size now because he stopped growing when he got sick. I would just buy some and put them in a box inside but then they might outgrow the box before the coop is ready and they might still not be ready for the brooder. I guess I will just have to buy some sexed females from a hatchery later on. They’re so expensive though and some of them won’t be hatched for another month or so and that is longer for my pekin to be alone! I know one person with ducks (a coworker of my dad’s) but I don’t know if he would be willing to bring one over or not. I might ask. Do y’all have a favorite hatchery for a small order of ducks?

 

[Goose Girl Farms]

I'd still rec trying Liquid B complex it is such a great product for our ducklings when they are having issues that pertain to walking and neurological issues . ETC
Durvet Liquid B complex at TSC is the best, and if the duckling is eating 1ml over a tasty treat gives the duckling the full dose and possibly a chance. This is what i am talking about only thing the label is darker now but same product. It will say injectable but we use it orally for our birds.

Thank you so much! I will try to get it today and see if it works. The antibiotic also said injectable but we did it orally.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What antibiotic are you using?