Pompom Duck has her eyes infected

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hi Friends,

Pompom Duck is battling with eye-infections since two weeks now: First she kept one eye closed, then the other, things got better but since last weekend she has both of her eyes infected and keeps them closed as much as she can, just dozing off the days.
When i hand out treats, she won't eat them i assume she can't find them fast enough before the others gobble them up, but in the evening she is viciously defending her place at the supper-bowl.
I have added a cup of vitamin-c infused rice to their diet since Sunday evening and Pompom has eaten a lot of it.
Finally, yesterday, i was able to sneak up to her while she was dozing at the rim of the pond and grab her.
I am deaf and full of scratches now, so she is still a strong birb. And she pooped me…
I cleaned the feathers around her eyes with a saline soaked piece of cotton and applied a generous amount of antibiotic cream around her eyes in the hope that some of it would end up in the eye, then release her back to the flock. Immediately she jumped into the pond and started to bathe of the pesky fat that the dumb humon has smeared in her face and refused to come out of the pond until dinner time. (Vitamin C rice again!)
Here she is, bobbing in the pond, actually swimming backwards. After about one minute i managed to zoom in more closely and you can see that she keeps her eyes closed as much as she can.

Update from today: Her eyes look better today, so maybe some of the antibiotics got to work

 

[Miss Lydia]

Dust from bedding or feed is one. Not head washing is another. Foreign object. Saline rinse can help also Terramycin eye ointment.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Anyone else love hillbilly's videos? His ducks all look so happy, and hearing him talk you them on said videos is just about the most adorable thing ever.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Though some people on YT understood »duck[personOfColour]« and called me a "racer".

That's ridiculous. A black duck is a black duck. A white duck is a white duck. They are all duck-Americans (given where they live). Can't we all just get along?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I'm sorry she isn't a grateful patient! Sounds like an all out battle!

That

was

nothing!


The real fight came this morning: I dared to grab PomPom Duck while she walked out of the duck house…
Even the birds of prey fled the area!
The airspace above was declared a no-fly zone!
The national guard came to investigate what had happened!


The ducks: »Oh no the axe-murderer got Pompom! - Run for the hilllllls!«
The mallards: »quack?! QUAACK! QUAAAAACK!! QUAAAAAACK!!!« - flying off in sheer panic.

It turned our that Pompis eyes are still inflamed and cloudy. She is just excellent in hiding her misery. But today i got her: Opened the duck-house door and just waited in complete silence, so she missed me. We exchanged eye-drops for scratches to my belly and Terramycin in exchange for a bite into the nose. I abstained from giving her ½ pill of the antibiotics, who knows what i would have received as a return…
Wanted to give her some cat-food and she pooped into the cat-food container…
All she wanted was to be returned to the puddle-ducks, where she loudly complained about being tortured by the imbecile humon!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Wow! Pompom Duck is such a loudmouth! She was threatening to rip my nose off if i ever pick her up, yet this morning she scare-pooped under her the moment she noticed me standing at the duck-house door…
What followed was the usual humon vs. duck fight with a draw as result: I was able to apply the eye-drops, but failed with the ointment. Pompom has learned how to dig herself out of the duck-burrito and then almost decapitated me with her toenails. She also bit me in my ear while i was carrying her up to the pond to join the other puddle-ducks.
Her eyes look less inflamed than yesterday, i am sure if she would agree to the same intensive care that Iris is receiving she would be a-okay by the end of the weekend.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have not changed the bedding!
I can't do that at the moment, because nobody is selling straw bales here.
There are several layers of bedding in the duck-house, i started in November last year with a thick layer of straw and kept adding straw as the ducks pooped. During the winter i used up several bales of hay (the girls love hay in winter!) and a couple of bags with dry leaves (they love those too!)
Now i am down to one straw bale and five hay-bales (from my own pasture) and have switched to daily spreading hay on top of the bedding. I don't want to clean out the whole duck house before March, the composting layers are generating some warmth and i need at least three straw bales for the initial bedding or the ducks will have some cold and uncomfortable nights. At least 3 inches of bedding is needed to start.
The last two hay bales i have used contained a lot of grass "flowers" (?) - so i wonder if some of the ducks may suffer from some kind of "hay-fever"?
I have sprayed down the whole bedding with vinegar, to neutralize whatever ammonia is emerging, the bedding now smells like freshly washed towels (not really ) - definitely no ammonia smell anyway. And the mist will have knocked every allergen/pollen from the hay out of the air. Also removed the shower-curtain from the back-side of the house to increase the airflow in the top of the house.
Good news is that Pompom duck is almost back to normal today, she left the house together with the other ducks and drilled her bill into the cat-food container while i was distributing the morning treats. I haven't noticed the other runner-female with the crusty eye i saw yesterday, so she might be better too. Naughtius Maximus is still having issues with his left eye though he looks better than yesterday.
Thinking about all of this, i remembered seeing Pompom sneezing several times last year during hay-making season when they were "turning" the hay for me…
Guess i will use up my last straw-bale and hope for the best…

Glad to hear Pom Pom is doing better today! I hope Naughtius follows suit. And I really hope it's a bedding allergy! That'd be an easy fix (if you can find it).

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yes! They are adorable, and I love his nicknames for all the ducks/groups. I now use Ducknagers all the time, lol!

No nicknames! - The ducks who have names know their names! I can call Mr. Limpy from the patio and he will react on the pond! And if i call out »Blanca Duck, FOOD!« she beams right to my feet.
Yeah, the duck-teenagers, that word make my tongue twist, so it became ducknagers. Though some people on YT understood »duck[personOfColour]« and called me a "racer".

 

[Texag87]

So far everything went wrong this afternoon with Iris: I thought she would enjoy a bath in luke-warm water as she hasn't been able to clean up herself for over a week - yet she did not really liked her bath. She drank a lot of water, but kept her head dry and didn't even wash her wings.

After about 20 minutes she started to quack loud and wanted out. But out her way: When i tried to pick her up, she jumped out, straight into the dried up peppermint plants, so she smells like a Mentos now! - Which is much better than before! Imaging a duck not in the water for about a full week…

Poor Ducky. My ducks feel neglected going without a clean bath every other day. She must really be in pain.

 

[Texag87]

Can Mrs Hillbilly not help? Or is she smarter than that?

I believe Mrs Hillbilly had her fill of caring for ducks a few years ago. Hillbilly was incapacitated for a while. Ask him to tell the story sometime. It is not funny, but then again it is.