Hello all,
Thank you in advance for reading - I know this is long. I have gotten so much valuable information from this group - I am so thankful to have this resource. I am mourning the loss of one of my girls - a Rouen that we adopted fully grown last August. This is the third duck we've lost in almost 3 years, and although I thought we were really doing this right, this mortality rate has me thinking that we are doing something wrong. I love our flock so much, and I don't want my lack of proper husbandry to cause any others to suffer. So, I'm hoping someone might have some advice on what we could be doing better.
We got our first pair of Pekin ducklings in May of 2020. As they matured, we discovered that we had a drake and a hen. We lost our hen just 8 months later with no sign of illness or injury of any kind. She seemed perfectly healthy, and then we found her dead near their food/water station one afternoon. Our drake was very lonely, so we then got a pair of Welsh Harlequin hen ducklings in February of 2021 which we raised to maturity and then had them join our drake. The three of them were happy and healthy for quite a while, and the hens were fantastically reliable layers. One of the hens started seeming off at one point - not as active and seemed to have a swollen abdominal area. I took her to the vet, and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her - no sign of egg binding or water belly. We administered some vitamins in the hope that would perk her up, but she continued to decline, getting more and more lethargic, and then passed away. Being back down to just 2 ducks again - a hen and a drake - we thought we should add to the flock so that our hen wasn't getting too much attention, and we found a pair of Rouen ducks locally that wanted to be re-homed. The owner estimated that they were 2 years old at the time, and we brought them home in August of 2022. One of these is the most recent we lost. She also started to seem lethargic about 1 month ago, sitting a lot and always the slowest of the group. I examined her and found that she had discharge coming from her vent - looked like possible mucus and some blood. I took her to the vet immediately, and she diagnosed salpingitis. We put her on a course of antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory, and after about a week, she was so perky that you would never know anything was wrong. We truly thought we had saved her life! Sadly, about 2.5 weeks later, she started looking very lethargic once again. I gave her a mix of honey/probiotics/vitamins/activated charcoal in the hope that would help her fight whatever it was, but we lost her within 2 days of her slowing down.
Our setup:
We live in central California (Ventura), with a mild climate. We have 2 large water bowls (about 18" diameter by 5" deep), which I drain and refill each morning. I add ACV to one of these (the one next to their food) about every other day (maybe should do this every day?). We feed them Mazuri waterfowl layer, which I understand is a good quality duck feed, but I'm open to suggestions here. I supplement the Mazuri with a variety of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables - most often tomatoes (their favorite), leafy greens, frozen peas, frozen blueberries, bits of apple and strawberry, and then other kitchen scraps we might have (their favorite is shrimp tails!). I also give them soldier fly larva most days, and occasionally some rolled oats and barley scratch. We have crushed oyster shell available all the time next to the food and water bowls. They free range in our yard and eat all the bugs, grasses, and clover they want. Our coop is 4' x 8' and is raised off the ground to make it predator proof. It has a roof, but open, chicken-wire sides. We have a smaller, enclosed area inside (about 1.5' x 3.5') that the ladies often use as a nesting and laying space. We use timothy hay on the floor of the coop, and I add a fresh layer about once a week. We use the deep layer method, and once I've used a full bale of the timothy hay, I rake everything up and start fresh. I have 2 worries here: 1) is it a problem that the sides of our coop are open? We have such mild weather here that we thought it would be fine, but I wonder if they need more shelter while sleeping? 2) Is adding fresh hay once a week sufficient? We also have a small, above ground pool with a ramp for them to climb up, and they have fabulous pool parties almost daily. We drain the pool into our yard and refill once a week. They also drink out of the pool fairly often, so it serves as an additional water source.
I would very much appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on our setup and our ducks. They bring me such joy, and I feel as if I am failing them somehow in not keeping them healthy. I take this duck mom responsibility very seriously, and I don't want to let them down. Thank you for reading all of this - you all are amazing!
Thank you in advance for reading - I know this is long. I have gotten so much valuable information from this group - I am so thankful to have this resource. I am mourning the loss of one of my girls - a Rouen that we adopted fully grown last August. This is the third duck we've lost in almost 3 years, and although I thought we were really doing this right, this mortality rate has me thinking that we are doing something wrong. I love our flock so much, and I don't want my lack of proper husbandry to cause any others to suffer. So, I'm hoping someone might have some advice on what we could be doing better.
We got our first pair of Pekin ducklings in May of 2020. As they matured, we discovered that we had a drake and a hen. We lost our hen just 8 months later with no sign of illness or injury of any kind. She seemed perfectly healthy, and then we found her dead near their food/water station one afternoon. Our drake was very lonely, so we then got a pair of Welsh Harlequin hen ducklings in February of 2021 which we raised to maturity and then had them join our drake. The three of them were happy and healthy for quite a while, and the hens were fantastically reliable layers. One of the hens started seeming off at one point - not as active and seemed to have a swollen abdominal area. I took her to the vet, and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her - no sign of egg binding or water belly. We administered some vitamins in the hope that would perk her up, but she continued to decline, getting more and more lethargic, and then passed away. Being back down to just 2 ducks again - a hen and a drake - we thought we should add to the flock so that our hen wasn't getting too much attention, and we found a pair of Rouen ducks locally that wanted to be re-homed. The owner estimated that they were 2 years old at the time, and we brought them home in August of 2022. One of these is the most recent we lost. She also started to seem lethargic about 1 month ago, sitting a lot and always the slowest of the group. I examined her and found that she had discharge coming from her vent - looked like possible mucus and some blood. I took her to the vet immediately, and she diagnosed salpingitis. We put her on a course of antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory, and after about a week, she was so perky that you would never know anything was wrong. We truly thought we had saved her life! Sadly, about 2.5 weeks later, she started looking very lethargic once again. I gave her a mix of honey/probiotics/vitamins/activated charcoal in the hope that would help her fight whatever it was, but we lost her within 2 days of her slowing down.
Our setup:
We live in central California (Ventura), with a mild climate. We have 2 large water bowls (about 18" diameter by 5" deep), which I drain and refill each morning. I add ACV to one of these (the one next to their food) about every other day (maybe should do this every day?). We feed them Mazuri waterfowl layer, which I understand is a good quality duck feed, but I'm open to suggestions here. I supplement the Mazuri with a variety of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables - most often tomatoes (their favorite), leafy greens, frozen peas, frozen blueberries, bits of apple and strawberry, and then other kitchen scraps we might have (their favorite is shrimp tails!). I also give them soldier fly larva most days, and occasionally some rolled oats and barley scratch. We have crushed oyster shell available all the time next to the food and water bowls. They free range in our yard and eat all the bugs, grasses, and clover they want. Our coop is 4' x 8' and is raised off the ground to make it predator proof. It has a roof, but open, chicken-wire sides. We have a smaller, enclosed area inside (about 1.5' x 3.5') that the ladies often use as a nesting and laying space. We use timothy hay on the floor of the coop, and I add a fresh layer about once a week. We use the deep layer method, and once I've used a full bale of the timothy hay, I rake everything up and start fresh. I have 2 worries here: 1) is it a problem that the sides of our coop are open? We have such mild weather here that we thought it would be fine, but I wonder if they need more shelter while sleeping? 2) Is adding fresh hay once a week sufficient? We also have a small, above ground pool with a ramp for them to climb up, and they have fabulous pool parties almost daily. We drain the pool into our yard and refill once a week. They also drink out of the pool fairly often, so it serves as an additional water source.
I would very much appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on our setup and our ducks. They bring me such joy, and I feel as if I am failing them somehow in not keeping them healthy. I take this duck mom responsibility very seriously, and I don't want to let them down. Thank you for reading all of this - you all are amazing!
