Respiratory illness in ducks (not emergency)

[Apolinne]

These are beautiful ducks, but I don’t get any audio on the video and I think it’s a problem on my end. I haven’t been able to hear any of the YouTube videos that people on BackyardChickens post. I don’t know why.

Thank you. I love them so much, I never thought I could love a duck so much. People always ask you if you're a cat person or a dog person. But what about the birds ? It's something else when such a small fragile creature trusts you.
Did you send the swab for your duck ? Let me know when you'll have the results, I really hope your duck gets better.
Do you not have an avian vet where you live or is it very expensive in the US ?
I don't know why the videos don't have sound, is there audio when you access youtube videos form other sites ?
My vet had to reschedule my appointment for Friday because of an emergency surgery on another patient. I hope my duckies will last that long. Vigo did this weird twitchy thing today. I'm really worried now.

 

[Apolinne]

I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t have them tested if you think it could be gape. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-gasping-hen.328429/ Post 7 will give you info on symptoms

Yeah, that's sounds about right, accept they have a healthy appetite. Should I ask the vet for treatment before it's confirmed by a test ? Can the treatment do them any harm ?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don’t think it would hurt to do a treatment. The vet may think a test is necessary. I have read you can swab the throat and possibly pull out some of the gape worms if that is the problem you have to have the long swabs that look like qtips the worms are red.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Thank you. I love them so much, I never thought I could love a duck so much. People always ask you if you're a cat person or a dog person. But what about the birds ? It's something else when such a small fragile creature trusts you.
Did you send the swab for your duck ? Let me know when you'll have the results, I really hope your duck gets better.
Do you not have an avian vet where you live or is it very expensive in the US ?
I don't know why the videos don't have sound, is there audio when you access youtube videos form other sites ?
My vet had to reschedule my appointment for Friday because of an emergency surgery on another patient. I hope my duckies will last that long. Vigo did this weird twitchy thing today. I'm really worried now.

the video worked!
i sent the swab monday it’s supposed to get there today but i haven’t heard back yet.
the treatment for gape worms you can do it yourself

 

[Apolinne]

I don’t think it would hurt to do a treatment. The vet may think a test is necessary. I have read you can swab the throat and possibly pull out some of the gape worms if that is the problem you have to have the long swabs that look like qtips the worms are red.

Oh, ok. That's not gonna take any extra time then. That's great. I read that the test is a fecal sample test, where they look for eggs of the worms, but if they can just swab for them, that's much faster.
A also read that preventative treatments for parasites are not always recommended, because it's hard on the birds organs or something. Do you deworm preventatively ?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh, ok. That's not gonna take any extra time then. That's great. I read that the test is a fecal sample test, where they look for eggs of the worms, but if they can just swab for them, that's much faster.
A also read that preventative treatments for parasites are not always recommended, because it's hard on the birds organs or something. Do you deworm preventatively ?

I do becasue I have chickens, I worm monthly and use an herbal wormer for 3 days each month.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I’m actually pretty upset right now that I haven’t heard from the place I sent the swab to. The deal was they were going to email me when they received it and I paid $11 to mail a small very light envelope to make sure it got there quickly. I mailed it on Monday and now it’s Friday and I telephone them yesterday and left a message also, I am actually worried this place may not be legit

 

[Apolinne]

I’m actually pretty upset right now that I haven’t heard from the place I sent the swab to. The deal was they were going to email me when they received it and I paid $11 to mail a small very light envelope to make sure it got there quickly. I mailed it on Monday and now it’s Friday and I telephone them yesterday and left a message also, I am actually worried this place may not be legit

Oh no, do they not pick up the phone? I'm so sorry. I didn't find many reviews of the lab online, but the ones I found were positive. I hope you hear from them soon.
You suspect aspergillosis in your duck, right ? What symptoms does she have ? For how long ?
I took my ducks to the vet today and I asked if it might be aspergillosis and he said it's very unlikely, because a duck with aspergillosis would look much worse after 3 weeks without treatment, if it were even alive still.
I asked him to do the swabs for cultures, the results should be back on Tuesday.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Oh no, do they not pick up the phone? I'm so sorry. I didn't find many reviews of the lab online, but the ones I found were positive. I hope you hear from them soon.
You suspect aspergillosis in your duck, right ? What symptoms does she have ? For how long ?
I took my ducks to the vet today and I asked if it might be aspergillosis and he said it's very unlikely, because a duck with aspergillosis would look much worse after 3 weeks without treatment, if it were even alive still.
I asked him to do the swabs for cultures, the results should be back on Tuesday.

everyone says it’s unlikely but it’s actually not uncommon and Poppy my duck has been sick for 8 months in and off , she always gets worse when I stop treating her with the oxine AH so I always put her back on it , because nothing else helps. I tried the dewormer for gape I tried antibiotics. I used colloidal silver, and I think it helps a little but not as much as the oxine. also manuka honey seems to help her a little. a couple of times I thought I was going to have to put her to sleep because she was suffering making loud noises trying to breathe, but the oxine always helps her. she has not been 100% but it gets her back to like 50% and she seems to enjoy her life again.

 

[Jenbirdee]

if I could have taken her to a vet, I would’ve asked for antifungal medicine prescription, but I couldn’t however, I got my hands on some nystatin powder for pigeons and managed to mix up some of that and give it to her at a dosage for her weight, but I don’t think that actually helped the nystatin powder that I had for pigeons is supposed to be for their digestive system not respiratory