Rouen Drake Enlarged Throat?

[Rocketrob]

Hello,
I have my first pair of Ducks and my 5 week old Rouen Drake gets an enlarged neck/breast on the/his right side.
I think I understand they hold food in their esophagus but would expect it to be symmetrical.
Sometimes it goes down to match the left side and his upper breast/esophagus looks the same side to side.
My hen always looks symetrical.

Read up on ailments and no nasal discharge and when I massage the area do not feel anything hard or any obstructions.

Is this normal or might a condition be developing?

Thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm thinking probably his crop is full. It shows more on ducklings especially right after they have eaten. Keep an eye on it and see if it's small in the morning and larger as the day goes on. If so then normal. AND

 

[hfchristy]

I was just looking this up earlier today.
Why the hell don't any of the books warn you about how freakishly WRONG this looks? I was sure they were going to die from too much food and not enough grit, or something, but no - it appears to actually be normal!

Christy

 

[Amiga]

hfchristy,

I must chuckle. Glad to see you are moving from worry to irritation! There are some freakish looking things that go on with ducks from time to time. Sometimes an egg is laid - plop - no fanfare, no big deal.

But once, in the middle of the night, I heard, from the basement pen, Funf going on and on about something. Down I staggered, around 1:30 a.m. I watched her pace from corner to corner, making a worried noise, turning around in circles, standing up, sitting down, not apparently hurt, just fretting mightily. Twenty long minutes later, she plopped herself into a nest and with a noise that seemed to be something like, "ta da!" laid an egg.

Then there was the time Elfie was walking around with her mouth open, and she turned toward me and I could see that she had packed I don't know how much mud in and around her bill. She just looked at me for a moment. I gestured toward the kiddie pool, and she went over and finally rinsed it all off.

Or the first time a duck swallowed a hickory nut, and I watched it slide down the inside of her long, slender neck. I was ready to have to give duckie Heimlich, but no, no problems. No impaction, no indigestion.

 

[Rocketrob]

Thank you Amiga.
Some things to watch for.
There is a lot to know.