PLEASE HELP!

[Jasss998]

sunny and milo recently started molting! they are 2 or 3 weeks. i was wondering if there are any tips to make them feel better because it’s probably stressful for them. cuddles and love or let them be? they seem A LOT more tired especially milo which is surprising because he’s a VERY hyper duck. my little crackhead. sunny has always been the tired sleepy one. i’m not sure if that’s just how she is or if something is wrong with her. i also don’t think the place we got them from were nice. the way they handled the them and they gave us pine shavings that really messed up their feet as you can see below. i managed to heal them though and now their feet are PERFECT AND SOFT. we are gonna move them up to growing feed pretty soon as of rn they are eating starter and we use duck feed.

MY ONLY ISSUE IS! Sunnys breathe smells like her poop. EXACTLY like it. i’m not sure if it’s the food we feed them but milos breathe doesn’t smell bad. she also gets hot a lot more than milo and she’s getting BIGGER than him. literally! she’s like a little sack of potatoes and milo is half a little sack of of potato’s lol.

tips, advice or anything! this is my first time owning ducklings... we bought them on the 15th of august and ever since then my whole life has been on STOP. i haven’t slept AT ALL, i’ve been up all night researching and i always get up through the night to change their food and water and give them little kisses and cuddles. i sing to them and talk to them... i honestly treat them like my children. i make sure they are clean and dry and happy. i even expanded their space (it’s temporary until we get something better) because the plastic tub was becoming small. they absolutely LOVE it though. i just really don’t want anything bad to happen to them. i’ve been sick with possibly the flu or bronchitis? maybe a cold? (i also want to know if that’s contagious to them) but i’ve still been getting up and just doing the best i can. i currently don’t work because i start school in October and i’m not sure if i’m gonna be on campus or off and what my schedule is so i can accommodate that with work so i can’t afford a vet at the moment and if i gather some money up it would be for just one of them.. i payed $5 for a online vet but he wasn’t that much help... they breathe very fast and sometimes it sounds like they have a stuffy nose. they have 2 water bowls. one is next to their food and has probiotics and electrolytes. the other is under their lamp and is deep enough for them to clean their whole bill but not enough to drown. it’s also clear water. when they breathe it sounds like they are sighing and i wouldn’t call it wheezing but it sounds like they have boogers in their nose... like a stuffy nose! it’s not that loud but if you lay them down close enough to you then you can hear it. if i lose them then i’m pretty sure i would lose myself!

i know this is pretty extra for me but i’m just a worried mom. PLEASE HELP!

 

[BDutch]

Take care of yourself too.
Its important to leave them alone a couple of times during the day and in the night to rest and sleep . Take some good sleep yourself too. If you can’t sleep anymore because of the ducks its best to give them to someone else for the time being.
I cant give advice on ducks. But all young fowl and people need to rest. Especially when sick.

 

[Isaac 0]

I've already responded to two of your other threads, but never received an answer.

Could you take a video of them wheezing, and upload it to a video platform like Youtube or Vimeo, and copy/paste the link here?

We see this problem a LOT with Pekins, and almost every single time its heat-related, I would suggest taking them outside for a bit, and see if the panting stops, I'm sure it likely will. Then you know if you need to move the heat lamp further away from them, or consider other problems.

 

[Chicalina]

First I would say that they don't need food and water during the night. They need to sleep and so do you. They also won't drown in a shallow water bowl so long as they can get out so don't worry about that. Bumblefoot is a result of walking on hard surfaces not on wood shavings. If they were cuts instead then glad they are healing fine.

There are so many issues raised in your post that it is hard to pick them all out.

Ducks are quite tough and survive pretty harsh conditions in the wild so bear that in mind when you are stressing about all the little things.

Ideally you need to create as natural an environment for them as possible. Puppy pads, towels etc are not ideal though ok short term. Wood shavings are fine (you can buy dust extracted bedding) and even short grass clippings which they will eat as well as being nice soft bedding when it dries out. Just make sure they go outside too, and for longer periods as they grow up a bit.

 

[Jasss998]

You should definitely check out @Isaac 0 thread on niacin, its crazy important for developing healthy strong birds!!! Do you know the niacin content of the feed?? Did they have bimblefoot when u got them? in my opinion, and im no expert,, but i think That would be odd that the shavings did that to their feet, their was probably another reason for it, what were they living in/on before u got them??? many ppl on here including myself use pine shavings with much success, and it gives them great padding to walk on, instead of the hard surfaces which is rough on their body. There are other options for bedding as well, ppl use straw alot, and the ducks love to make little nests in it, just keep it away from your water!!!! Im not sure about the breath stuff, someone with more experience will have to direct you there
@Isaac 0 @Miss Lydia

i can put all the ingredients and percentage in here! when we got them they were also on pine shavings but i read that they have to be thin and dust free. the ones we were using weren’t thin, there actually were some chunks of wood in there and they were so dusty that everyone in the house would get allergies! the moment i changed the shavings there feet got better. i read soaking there feet in warm water and epsom salt works and it did. i put a puppy pad and then a towel on top of the puppy pad and another puppy pad on top of the towel. i was thinking about finding some very thin pine shavings and trying again to see if it was just those ones. they didn’t get bumblefeet thankfully! the moment i seen those cuts i acted on it FAST! i’ll check the thread out right now

 

[Jasss998]

these are the ingredients

 

[Jasss998]

Take care of yourself too.
Its important to leave them alone a couple of times during the day and in the night to rest and sleep . Take some good sleep yourself too. If you can’t sleep anymore because of the ducks its best to give them to someone else for the time being.
I cant give advice on ducks. But all young fowl and people need to rest. Especially when sick.

yes i know i’m just worried mostly!
they eat and drink fine and we let them out too play but as a first timer i guess i’m just overdoing myself. thank you, i appreciate you so much!

 

[ducksinvt]

O yeah, big chunks are definitely no good and dust as well, medium sized pine shavings work well, most tsc and feed stores carry it!!!! It can be very stressful some times with these little creatures, especially at that age, but the ppl on this site are amazing and will help you through it the best they can, your doing all you can and then some, keep up the great work,, but as @BDutch stated, u gotta be healthy as well, for you and your birds!!!

 

[416bigbore]

 

[Jasss998]

First I would say that they don't need food and water during the night. They need to sleep and so do you. They also won't drown in a shallow water bowl so long as they can get out so don't worry about that. Bumblefoot is a result of walking on hard surfaces not on wood shavings. If they were cuts instead then glad they are healing fine.

There are so many issues raised in your post that it is hard to pick them all out.

Ducks are quite tough and survive pretty harsh conditions in the wild so bear that in mind when you are stressing about all the little things.

Ideally you need to create as natural an environment for them as possible. Puppy pads, towels etc are not ideal though ok short term. Wood shavings are fine (you can buy dust extracted bedding) and even short grass clippings which they will eat as well as being nice soft bedding when it dries out. Just make sure they go outside too, and for longer periods as they grow up a bit.

I was actually wondering about that earlier! thank you! i’ve gotten some rest tonight so i think after making this post i’m feeling a lot more settled. they were able to walk on both of their feet and it wasn’t ever a limp or anything so i think it was just cuts. i know!!!! i was gonna single them all out but i feel like that would be annoying of me to do so i just put everything in one. i wanted to create a natural environment when our set up for them finally comes (which i ordered) and maybe they’ll be more happier with a bigger area! we got them leashes and there’s this very nice nature park up the street from me that i’m planning on making it my go to spot for them since it would be more in their environment. I do think a lot of it has to do with the Niacin so i’m going to get on that today.
thank you so much!