Please help! My duck is really sick and has been for awhile now, but we aren’t able to find out the exact problem and we can’t seem to find a solution

[BelovedBirds]

Unfortunately, I believe pine shavings aren’t exactly a good idea for the environment she lives in. However, we will try to find a way to prevent her from spilling water while having enough water to dunk her head in to clean her nares and face. Thank you.

Right now, her diet consists of salmon, shrimp, and mussels since her duck feed is arriving late. We can’t buy any of her feed nearby and switching to any other feeds that are an option isn’t a good idea for us since most of them lack protein.

We’re hoping to drastically decrease her treats once she gets her feed back, but she’s rather picky. Unfortuantely, she gets sick of her feed at least once every few meals, so it might be difficult to only give her a treat or two everyday. It might take awhile.

I try to put food and water out for her whenever I’m awake, but we can’t when I’m sleeping since she makes the dog pads wet and eat from it. She also has a habit of soaking her chest feathers into the water when we give her water, so unfortunately, it’s not exactly the best idea to give her food and water without someone watching her.
Oh, she doesn’t have grit.

Oh, I see. Thank you for telling me.
We’ve also been concerned about lack of sunlight. The vet has mentioned this before, so we’ve already brought a fluorescent lamp for her. We try to turn it on and cover her eyes or go out on a walk with her so she can get some vitamin D. It isn’t enough, so we’re still trying to figure out a good way to help her get sunlight without having to stay outdoors with her for long periods of time everyday.
Thank you, we’ll try to buy her oyster shells soon.

She does have some of those symptoms, but that’s likely because of her infection.
Please don’t worry about that, it doesn’t bother me. Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it. It’s a lot better and much more reassuring to get help from other people who have ducks. It’s my first time raising a duck and just kind of a pet too, so I’m lacking a lot of knowledge regarding birds and ducks specially. Any advice is much appreciated, thank you.

I believe you may be able to supplement Vitamin D through food, but I'm not sure on doses.
Grit is really important- because ducks don't have teeth, they need really small stones (grit) to eat. The grit goes down into their digestive system and grinds up the food to prevent it getting stuck. Since she's eating a lot of treats right now, grit is absolutely crucial- I wonder if that could be making her feel poorly. You can get plain grit and mix it with oyster shells, or a pre mixed grit. Serve it in a little dish by her water, all day so she can take what she needs

Since she has some egg binding symptoms, I would give her the calcium gluconate I mentioned before asap. If it turns out there's no egg stuck, it won't harm her at all. It'll just help us to rule it out.
I think if you make some of these changes, the water deep enough for her to dunk her head, the grit and oyster shells, the Vit D as much as you are able to, and ruling out an egg being the problem, you should be able to find the cause. And at least, those changes will prevent other issues in the future
Keep in mind that since she has an infection, she will be feeling quite poorly, but your vet sounds like they've made some good suggestions too, so keep following their advice and working with them

One thing I also wanted to mention, is while waiting on the feed arrive you may want to try switching up her treats, perhaps it will make her less dependant on those same things. I had the same situation recently when my feed arrives late, I fed my girls mainly rolled oats, scrambled eggs, in the evening soaked calci worms (meal worms are also good, but i wouldnt reccomend these until you get grit), flaked tuna, an occasional treat of banana. All those things are good, but you'll need to mash it (ensure it's all soft and small) since she doesn't have grit. If you have any of those things, you could try introducing them, and changing up what she has. Once her feed comes, ensure that's all she's given in the morning, in the evening if she hasn't eaten, you could try mixing a little treat into the food. She should stick with the food eventually. You could also try wetting her feed, that may get her interest again.

I know it's a lot of information to take on board, ducks have been some of the most complex animals I've looked after! Not in daily tasks, but in all the knowledge I've had to learn. We all make our fair share of mistakes, and we're all constantly learning

 

[Drowsy_808]

I believe you may be able to supplement Vitamin D through food, but I'm not sure on doses.
Grit is really important- because ducks don't have teeth, they need really small stones (grit) to eat. The grit goes down into their digestive system and grinds up the food to prevent it getting stuck. Since she's eating a lot of treats right now, grit is absolutely crucial- I wonder if that could be making her feel poorly. You can get plain grit and mix it with oyster shells, or a pre mixed grit. Serve it in a little dish by her water, all day so she can take what she needs

Since she has some egg binding symptoms, I would give her the calcium gluconate I mentioned before asap. If it turns out there's no egg stuck, it won't harm her at all. It'll just help us to rule it out.
I think if you make some of these changes, the water deep enough for her to dunk her head, the grit and oyster shells, the Vit D as much as you are able to, and ruling out an egg being the problem, you should be able to find the cause. And at least, those changes will prevent other issues in the future
Keep in mind that since she has an infection, she will be feeling quite poorly, but your vet sounds like they've made some good suggestions too, so keep following their advice and working with them

One thing I also wanted to mention, is while waiting on the feed arrive you may want to try switching up her treats, perhaps it will make her less dependant on those same things. I had the same situation recently when my feed arrives late, I fed my girls mainly rolled oats, scrambled eggs, in the evening soaked calci worms (meal worms are also good, but i wouldnt reccomend these until you get grit), flaked tuna, an occasional treat of banana. All those things are good, but you'll need to mash it (ensure it's all soft and small) since she doesn't have grit. If you have any of those things, you could try introducing them, and changing up what she has. Once her feed comes, ensure that's all she's given in the morning, in the evening if she hasn't eaten, you could try mixing a little treat into the food. She should stick with the food eventually. You could also try wetting her feed, that may get her interest again.

I know it's a lot of information to take on board, ducks have been some of the most complex animals I've looked after! Not in daily tasks, but in all the knowledge I've had to learn. We all make our fair share of mistakes, and we're all constantly learning

Oh, thank you for telling me.
We will, thank you. Thankfully, she started laying again and has been laying fine for the past few days. She successfully laid an egg this morning.
I see, thank you for the advice. Much appreciated. I’ll keep them in mind.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any of that, so it isn’t quite possible at the moment.
However, we have been switching her food up every once in awhile so she won’t rely on these too much. She’s rather picky and there’s a lot she refuses to eat unless she’s starving, so it’s a bit difficulty buying food for her. She eats vegetables but having to wash them for every meal and feed her it nearly every two hours is a bit much even for the both of us, so we decided it’d be healthier for her and easier for us to feed her fish since it’s more filling to say the least. Unfortunately, she doesn’t eat most fruits, so fruits aren’t exactly an option.

I plan to give her mainly duck feed once it arrives. Not because I don’t wish to give her treats, I do, but I noticed she’s healthier and brighter when she eats her feed. Her infection seems better then too. Going out for walks also help her feel better, so we’ve been trying to do this at least once every two or three days. I plan to give her duck feed at least 70% of the time. She needs it to fatten up and get better, so even if she’s picky about it, I’ll have but to find a way to get her to eat it.

Sadly, she hates it whenever her feed is wet. Whenever it’s wet, she just walks away unless we get her dry feed.

Thank you, I appreciate the help and information.
I hope we’ll both be able to learn a lot more about ducks in order to keep them happy and healthy.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

For the feed getting wet I keep my feed dish away from my water buckets
They hardly get the feed wet this way
About 6 feet apart
Wet feed leads to mould and that leads to infection. That’s why I keep it separate
I worry about infections so would rather take steps to avoid it