Please help. 2 ducks dead in under a month???

[Mikejaycav]

so last night around 1 AM I walked outside and checked on the ducks and my one brown duck was just floating in the water dead and my three Pekin ducks were swimming around him seeming stressed out. This is just extremely odd to me because at 6 PM. The brown duck was in the water swimming happily and the other three females were just grazing in the yard. As far as I could tell, there were absolutely no signs of injury and appeared that he had just like laid his head down and went to sleep.

This is very similar to my male pekin duck who I found a few weeks ago, also dead, but not in the pond, but seemingly like he just laid his head down and went to sleep and passed. No signs of injury. Neither of these ducks made it to one years old.

The conditions last night were pretty chilly and cold and got down into the 30s could my brown duck have succumb to like hypothermia or gotten chilled and not been able to get out of the water and drowned? And then my pekin male duck I’m also wondering, maybe hypothermia or becoming waterlogged or chilled or something it was during the hurricane three weeks ago or so. Every thing was nonstop soaking wet for about a week.

Or is this botulism? I Clean and refill their pond like once a week and I also bring them freshwater in their feeder.

Or my last thing is could my three female pekin ducks be ganging up against these males and killing them. I don’t know that just sounds crazy.

 

[Quatie]

So sorry to hear you lost two of your ducks recently. I am not sure what is going on. But if you really want to know what is causing it, you should freeze the duck and send it in for a necropsy. Your vet can do it for you or you can send it yourself to a lab to be examined.

 

[casportpony]

@Mikejaycav, welcome to BYC ans sorry for your losses. I agree with @Quatie that having a necropsy done is the only way to find out what happened. However, veterinarians recommend keeping the body cool, not freezing it.

This is how I send mine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures.799747/

What state do you live in? Call your state lab and ask how to proceed:

Necropsy Labs, Necropsy Manual, & Necropsy Videos

It is an unfortunate reality that chickens will die inevitably at some point. But what happens when several young birds die in succession? The cause of the death of your beloved bird may have been an illness. Isn't it useful to know what caused your loss(es) so you can prevent it from happening...

• casportpony
• Oct 15, 2021
• 4.83 star(s) 6 ratings
• Comments: 1
• Reviews: 5
• Category: Injuries, Diseases, & Cures

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

Sorry for your ducks...

I never had any Pekin duck, but from what I know, they are cold-hardy.
So : I don't see yours dying from cold - especially at (only) 30°F...

(...What breed was your Brown coloured duck?)

If you had 2 ducks dying in one month, then their death could be coincidental and you are just not lucky... or it could be due to anything.

What do you feed your ducks, exactly?

And do they have access to stagnant, dirty water...?

...Do you give them Apple Cider Vinegar in a METAL waterer, maybe...?

I know there is (was?) an outbreak of Botulism, in America...
But : if you are not close to Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Northern California, you should have nothing to worry about...

In any case, I really don't think your two ducks have died from Botulism : from my understanding, you would have seen some (neurologic) symptoms before their death...
(But that would need to be confirmed by somebody who knows better than me!)

 

[Sondraa]

Did you find out what happened? Have there been any more deaths?