Apolinne
Songster
Hello friends,
wonderful people here helped me with my ducks multiple times, so I ask you for your wisdom once more.
TL;DR : my indian runners have been sick since they were about 2 weeks old - detailed symptoms below - They are doing ok from what I can tell, the vet said they are ok and to keep an eye on them. It may be one issue or multiple I don't know really. I wonder: Did anyone experience something similar ? Is there anything I can do to help them ? Most importantly I have too many drakes. Is it ok to get more ducks or give a drake to a friend? (as it may potentially be mycoplasma, wasn't tested)
at 2 weeks old:
all ducks
- watery eye discharge,
- sneezing that got progressively more frequent
--> treatment: 3rd week - antibiotics (tiamulinum- brand name denagard ) for 5 days, symptoms cleared gradually
at 4 weeks old
- 1 duck: eye redness
- 1 duck: eye redness, stuffy nose, puffy cheeks
- 2 ducks: stuffy nose but no eye redness
--> treatment: 5th week - antibiotics (tiamlulinum) for 6 days, eye redness improved
at 6 weeks old
- the eye redness gradually disappeared
- stuffy nose breathing remained
- 2 ducks got puffy cheeks again
- occasional coughing in all ducks
---> treatment: apple cider vinegar in water, extra poultry vitamins in water, fresh oregano in feed
at 7 weeks old
- coughing got more frequent but than gradually better, and later disappeared in most ducks
since 8 weeks old
- 2 oldest ducks, both drakes, still continue to have congested noses on and off and occasionally puffy cheeks, sometimes raspy cough (in the meantime they started to develop their adult rasp but sound very quiet)
- some of the ducks have stuffy noses some days but not other, or do in the morning but not in the evening
- all through the progression of whatever is going on I find the occasional brown diarrhoea in the coop or outside, but it's like one or two poos like that a day with 8 ducks total, and it seems it's always a different duck.
I took them to the vet again at 8 weeks old. He said there is no inflammation or soreness to the touch in the trachea. Does not recommend testing as it would be a waste of money if there is no collectable discharge and the tests would be inconclusive. The first two times he prescribed antibiotics that are primarily used for mycoplasma and it did help. But the ducks never had any discharge from the nares and they were never tested for mycoplasma.
I don't think it's the bedding, as they had 3 different types of bedding since this all started. I wonder if it might be fungal as we do have some mold issues in the ground floor of our house, but the garage area they are in is dry, well ventilated and has no mold. We store food there because it is well ventilated.
The vet thinks whatever they have now is probably viral and moved from the upper respiratory tract to the lower respiratory system and said I should just keep giving them vitamins and observe and call him if anything changes. Nothing much changed since the cough got a bit better. They are all doing all right, seem happy, eat well, I just hate hearing the raspy ugly cough, though it is infrequent. The two boys are the only ones that still cough and since they started moulting into their nuptial feathers they seem a little bit less energetic than before but I figured it might be due to the moult, but I don't know. These are literally my first ducks ever.
In conclusion: What the duck ? I read all threads I could find on respiratory problems - I see lot of people recommend something called VetRX or Oxine. I checked and none of those are available where I live. So what do I do ? How can I help them ? Do I just wait ?
Also I should probably not give a potentially sick duck to a friend, right ? Especially since they might have mycoplasma. Question is: is it ok if I get more ducks to adjust the ratio ? Or should I wait with that as well ?
I'm sorry for the saga, thank you to whomever read the whole thing.
wonderful people here helped me with my ducks multiple times, so I ask you for your wisdom once more.
TL;DR : my indian runners have been sick since they were about 2 weeks old - detailed symptoms below - They are doing ok from what I can tell, the vet said they are ok and to keep an eye on them. It may be one issue or multiple I don't know really. I wonder: Did anyone experience something similar ? Is there anything I can do to help them ? Most importantly I have too many drakes. Is it ok to get more ducks or give a drake to a friend? (as it may potentially be mycoplasma, wasn't tested)
at 2 weeks old:
all ducks
- watery eye discharge,
- sneezing that got progressively more frequent
--> treatment: 3rd week - antibiotics (tiamulinum- brand name denagard ) for 5 days, symptoms cleared gradually
at 4 weeks old
- 1 duck: eye redness
- 1 duck: eye redness, stuffy nose, puffy cheeks
- 2 ducks: stuffy nose but no eye redness
--> treatment: 5th week - antibiotics (tiamlulinum) for 6 days, eye redness improved
at 6 weeks old
- the eye redness gradually disappeared
- stuffy nose breathing remained
- 2 ducks got puffy cheeks again
- occasional coughing in all ducks
---> treatment: apple cider vinegar in water, extra poultry vitamins in water, fresh oregano in feed
at 7 weeks old
- coughing got more frequent but than gradually better, and later disappeared in most ducks
since 8 weeks old
- 2 oldest ducks, both drakes, still continue to have congested noses on and off and occasionally puffy cheeks, sometimes raspy cough (in the meantime they started to develop their adult rasp but sound very quiet)
- some of the ducks have stuffy noses some days but not other, or do in the morning but not in the evening
- all through the progression of whatever is going on I find the occasional brown diarrhoea in the coop or outside, but it's like one or two poos like that a day with 8 ducks total, and it seems it's always a different duck.
I took them to the vet again at 8 weeks old. He said there is no inflammation or soreness to the touch in the trachea. Does not recommend testing as it would be a waste of money if there is no collectable discharge and the tests would be inconclusive. The first two times he prescribed antibiotics that are primarily used for mycoplasma and it did help. But the ducks never had any discharge from the nares and they were never tested for mycoplasma.
I don't think it's the bedding, as they had 3 different types of bedding since this all started. I wonder if it might be fungal as we do have some mold issues in the ground floor of our house, but the garage area they are in is dry, well ventilated and has no mold. We store food there because it is well ventilated.
The vet thinks whatever they have now is probably viral and moved from the upper respiratory tract to the lower respiratory system and said I should just keep giving them vitamins and observe and call him if anything changes. Nothing much changed since the cough got a bit better. They are all doing all right, seem happy, eat well, I just hate hearing the raspy ugly cough, though it is infrequent. The two boys are the only ones that still cough and since they started moulting into their nuptial feathers they seem a little bit less energetic than before but I figured it might be due to the moult, but I don't know. These are literally my first ducks ever.
In conclusion: What the duck ? I read all threads I could find on respiratory problems - I see lot of people recommend something called VetRX or Oxine. I checked and none of those are available where I live. So what do I do ? How can I help them ? Do I just wait ?
Also I should probably not give a potentially sick duck to a friend, right ? Especially since they might have mycoplasma. Question is: is it ok if I get more ducks to adjust the ratio ? Or should I wait with that as well ?
I'm sorry for the saga, thank you to whomever read the whole thing.
I really need to find a way to repay your kindness, you answer all of my posts. 
