Poorly Duck

[dazza1965]

Hi All,

Not posted in here for a while, I just wanted to get some opinions & advice. I have 3 female Indian runner ducks who are abt 4yrs old.

Last year we introduced a Drake into the flock. All was well until this year.

1 female has become ill. Here eyes are looking puffy, and she is quite lethargic, sits a lot & was limping a bity the other day. This could be the fact she could not see out of 1 eye very well.

So we took her to the vets and they said its possibly from trauma off another duck or some sort of internal illness. So they gave us pain killer & antibiotic to give to her and segregate her at night from the others..
Over the last 24hrs we noticed a slight improvement in her health. When we let her out this morning, we noticed the drake & 1 female pecking at her eye (not a good sign) and at her generally. It is as if they don't want her near them.

So, is it that they know instinctively that she is terminally ill and don't want her there? Or have they just ganged up on her for some reason and ousted her.?
Also, if she make a full recovery, is it worth us re-introducing her to the flock or will they just push her away again?
Sorry for the questions, but would like to hear peoples views.

 

[needlessjunk]

Keep her away from the other ducks till she is 100% healthy. Ducks seem to know when another duck is not feeling well and will go after them. I think it is natural instinct to keep sick members away from the flock as they attract predators. Once she is better then reintroduce them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Keep her away from the other ducks till she is 100% healthy. Ducks seem to know when another duck is not feeling well and will go after them. I think it is natural instinct to keep sick members away from the flock as they attract predators. Once she is better then reintroduce them.

I second this advise.

 

[dazza1965]

Hi both.
Thank you for your advice, I have done this and she does seem to be getting better.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi both.
Thank you for your advice, I have done this and she does seem to be getting better.

That's great news.

 

[Kasia]

Has your vet run any bloodwork to check for Hardware Disease? She may have eaten something metal and it could be poisoning her, which makes them very lethargic, therefore prone to getting beat up on by other ducks in her flock once they sensed she was weak. Hardware Disease is very common in waterfowl and I had a goose that had it and needed surgery to remove 3 dimes out of her gizzard. That was over 3 years ago and she is healthy as a horse now.

 

[dazza1965]

Hi Kasia,
no blood tests have been done yet. They won't do any cos they dont know much about ducks. They had to seek advice before prescribing the antibiotics. I would have to travel 150 miles to my nearest wildfowl specialist so they told me. She is definitely improving slowly and we got a day or 2 of medicine left. Her appetite is improving too. So we'll wait unitl the medicine is gone then see what happens.
we are concerned that 2 out of the other 3 are still pushing her away. I know this is natural to them, but we hope if she makes a full recovery the others will accept her back.

 

[dazza1965]

Hi,
I have found a different vet that was happy to diagnose my duck. They checked her over & has given us more antibiotics and some steroid cream for the eye. Hopefully she will soon recover.