Other ideas for getting my duck to eat- including emeraid & Poultry Cell

[Worcester_Cat]

Hi,

To cut a long story short (I have been seeking help on other websites until I discovered this one, so sorry if you have read this before), my duck is under vet supervision in UK (not specialists) and my duck has been lethargic and not wanting to eat or keep up with the flock for two weeks. She has diarrhoea at the moment but had it looked at under a microscope. She has had her temperature taken on two occasions and been seen by the vet. She has lost 1kg in 2 weeks. There seems to be no explanation as to the problem. The other three are fine.

We are giving her:
Poultry Cell daily 1ml
Electrolytes with her peas
Antibiotics- second week
Painkillers- second week
Blood tests are being run

She is dehydrated and underweight. The only thing she will eat is live mealworms and peas. I have added a different brand of pellets and I have some chick crumb coming (worth a try). She is drinking water and I have popped some electrolytes (3ml) down her today.

She won't eat:
porridge
sweetcorn
kale
pellets
scrambled eggs

I have ordered Emeraid in case I get desperate but I would not be in a position to pipe it down her throat. I have noticed that it suggests it should only be used under the supervision of a vet which makes me nervous.

So, my questions are:
1. am I missing something? Is there anything else I could do to help her feed?

2. I think she might feed more if I isolated her from the others and popped the live food and peas in with her as the problem is that they would scoff all the food. Would you recommend this or will the stress get to her?

3. Do you have any experience of using Emeraid?

4. Does Poultry Cell give her all the niacin she needs as I had been giving her 50mg a day for 5 days and it made no difference as far as I could tell?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Have you tried using a dewormer?
What feed is she on?
I would separate her, but put in with her one friend the duck who seems to be the friendliest with her.
It doesn’t sound like a niacin deficiency, so she’s fine with the poultry cell for her vitamins
I have to look up emeraid as I don’t know what it is

When you give her electrolyte water, do you also give her clear water or at least switch back-and-forth every 12 hours she shouldn’t have only electrolyte water

You can make her feed into a mash by adding water one part feed two parts, warm water

If she’s not eating enough, you can start tube feeding it sounds scary but once you learn how to do it it’s really not that hard.

I would start a dewormer like safeguard immediately, and I would also start tube feeding once or twice a day

 

[cheezenkwackers]

My ducks all prefer food floating in their water to a dry bowl of food. Maybe try floating leaf lettuce, dry mealworms, or floating waterfowl food.

 

[FrizzledWyandotte7]

Hi,

To cut a long story short (I have been seeking help on other websites until I discovered this one, so sorry if you have read this before), my duck is under vet supervision in UK (not specialists) and my duck has been lethargic and not wanting to eat or keep up with the flock for two weeks. She has diarrhoea at the moment but had it looked at under a microscope. She has had her temperature taken on two occasions and been seen by the vet. She has lost 1kg in 2 weeks. There seems to be no explanation as to the problem. The other three are fine.

We are giving her:
Poultry Cell daily 1ml
Electrolytes with her peas
Antibiotics- second week
Painkillers- second week
Blood tests are being run

She is dehydrated and underweight. The only thing she will eat is live mealworms and peas. I have added a different brand of pellets and I have some chick crumb coming (worth a try). She is drinking water and I have popped some electrolytes (3ml) down her today.

She won't eat:
porridge
sweetcorn
kale
pellets
scrambled eggs

I have ordered Emeraid in case I get desperate but I would not be in a position to pipe it down her throat. I have noticed that it suggests it should only be used under the supervision of a vet which makes me nervous.

So, my questions are:
1. am I missing something? Is there anything else I could do to help her feed?

2. I think she might feed more if I isolated her from the others and popped the live food and peas in with her as the problem is that they would scoff all the food. Would you recommend this or will the stress get to her?

3. Do you have any experience of using Emeraid?

4. Does Poultry Cell give her all the niacin she needs as I had been giving her 50mg a day for 5 days and it made no difference as far as I could tell?

Thank you in advance.

Hey! I’ve done this with chickens, but not ducks. When one of my hens wasn’t eating, I mixed some egg yolk with electrolyte water and put it in a big syringe without a needle. I held her in one arm and dripped a little bit of the mixture onto her beak. She gobbled it up! I repeated twice daily until she started eating again.

 

[Worcester_Cat]

Have you tried using a dewormer?
What feed is she on?
I would separate her, but put in with her one friend the duck who seems to be the friendliest with her.
It doesn’t sound like a niacin deficiency, so she’s fine with the poultry cell for her vitamins
I have to look up emeraid as I don’t know what it is

When you give her electrolyte water, do you also give her clear water or at least switch back-and-forth every 12 hours she shouldn’t have only electrolyte water

You can make her feed into a mash by adding water one part feed two parts, warm water

If she’s not eating enough, you can start tube feeding it sounds scary but once you learn how to do it it’s really not that hard.

I would start a dewormer like safeguard immediately, and I would also start tube feeding once or twice a day

Thank you for your advice. Could you screen shot the dewormer and explain the proportions for a duck at 1.2kg? Also the dosage and frequency?

I had her on Heygates layers then moved back to Heygates duck and goose and have now bought a duckling crumb in the hope she will eat something.

She is eating a far bit when it comes to peas and live mealworms- 7 teaspoons of mealworms at lunch time. We are hand feeding her four times a day but definitely has a limit to her intake during each of those sessions.

Also, how do I tube feed and with what food?

Thank you.

 

[Worcester_Cat]

Hey! I’ve done this with chickens, but not ducks. When one of my hens wasn’t eating, I mixed some egg yolk with electrolyte water and put it in a big syringe without a needle. I held her in one arm and dripped a little bit of the mixture onto her beak. She gobbled it up! I repeated twice daily until she started eating again.

That’s an idea. Did you cools the yolk first? If so, how?

 

[FrizzledWyandotte7]

Have you tried using a dewormer?
What feed is she on?
I would separate her, but put in with her one friend the duck who seems to be the friendliest with her.
It doesn’t sound like a niacin deficiency, so she’s fine with the poultry cell for her vitamins
I have to look up emeraid as I don’t know what it is

When you give her electrolyte water, do you also give her clear water or at least switch back-and-forth every 12 hours she shouldn’t have only electrolyte water

You can make her feed into a mash by adding water one part feed two parts, warm water

If she’s not eating enough, you can start tube feeding it sounds scary but once you learn how to do it it’s really not that hard.

I would start a dewormer like safeguard immediately, and I would also start tube feeding once or twice

That’s an idea. Did you cools the yolk first? If so, how?

I don’t understand what you mean-but I just took an egg, separated out the white and put it in a small bowl. I added either water or electrolyte water, and then put it in a needless syringe. She did have a limit for that-she stopped eating the mixture after about half a syringe.