*~*Runner Duck Club*~*

[SidUccle]

So, I did lots of reading on foamy eye, & here's what I did...

1. 2 ducks at a time in a slightly warm bath with chopped greens to make it extra enticing

2. Homemade saline solution (according to seeing the same recipe in several duck resources) applied to the each eye + crusty stuff on 2 of the ducks gently washed off

3. Time to dry off in the warm bathroom (checked the rest of the body for parasites, other signs of illness, etc. during this time)

4. Sanitized dunking dunking water trough, drinking waterers, food troughs with weak bleach solution (also scrubbed & rinsed)

5. Completely mucked out coop, scrubbed down with weak bleach solution, aired out & new bedding put in

6. Apple cider vinegar in all water

Hopefully that's the formula.

 

[LoveDucks]

Tell me if it works

 

[SidUccle]

Will do, LoveDucks. The information on foamy eye generally says weather changes, lack of or decreased bathing (which was our observation this winter... ducks not interested in dunking heads/splashing in bathing water as much), or a general spring cold causes it.

More serious infections can cause it as well, but these were said to have clear respiratory symptoms + other physical signs such as lethargy, shaking the head a lot, slow/uncoordinated movement, and/or disinterest in food. We are seeing no other symptoms yet (knock on wood), so hoping for a quick return to normal.

We're also adding a second bathing trough (since we have no pond yet) & considering probiotics added to the drinking waterers.

 

[fowlman01]

Help needed!

When I had a close look at my 4 Runners today, I noticed crusty feathers near the eyes & a bit of white, bubbly discharge coming out the corners (worse in some eyes than in others). There also seemed to be a bit of yellow discharge on one or two eyes as well.

They have all day access to dunking water (deep enough to clean head & neck & even to jump in for an all-over cleaning, but no pond), & the water is cleaned/changed regularly.

They are eating, foraging, moving, & breathing normally. I'm searching all forums here & my other duck resources, but hoping for a consistent thread of suggestion, so I know what to try for treatment. This is my first time dealing with health issues in my birds.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

A six foot wading pool will solve your problems. The whole bird needs to get in the water. If they don't keep their eyes clean they can lose their sight. I have raised thousands of Runners and if you don't keep fresh water that they can splash their whole body in, you will have several problems.......in particular eye problems. Dunking water is not enough.

Walt

 

[SidUccle]

A six foot wading pool will solve your problems. The whole bird needs to get in the water. If they don't keep their eyes clean they can lose their sight. I have raised thousands of Runners and if you don't keep fresh water that they can splash their whole body in, you will have several problems.......in particular eye problems. Dunking water is not enough.

Walt

True enough, Walt, thank you.

We're actually building a pond now that they'll be a year old in early summer. In the meantime, do you have a suggestion for a very low height wading pool that they can still submerge most of the body into... is a kiddie pool the lowest? We've tried teaching them to use ramps into large rubber watering troughs (about as high off the ground as their coop, which has a ramp that they learned to use), & they haven't been game. When they were little babies, it was easy enough to just put them in, but certainly more challenging now.

Also, are you in a northern climate? If so, what do you do during winter? We have tried heating elements for all the water we provide, but I'm always a little concerned about burns & they don't work in the low temps we've seen this winter. The pond we're building will not have heating capability.

Cheers

 

[SidUccle]

My little flock looked great this morning, so using the guest bathtub in the house worked well. It's rainy, so they were out like shots to forage & they all look bright eyed. Thanks for the tips!

Has anyone else had the experience of ducks bathing less during the winter in cold climates? I think this is what happened to us. That & they don't like climbing a ramp to get into the bathing trough we have (an unused rubber water trough for larger livestock).

 

[Amiga]

My little flock looked great this morning, so using the guest bathtub in the house worked well. It's rainy, so they were out like shots to forage & they all look bright eyed. Thanks for the tips!

Has anyone else had the experience of ducks bathing less during the winter in cold climates? I think this is what happened to us. That & they don't like climbing a ramp to get into the bathing trough we have (an unused rubber water trough for larger livestock).

Our first winter, the ducks could not get into a tub for several weeks due to the piling snows. We did not have paths, we had canyons to walk through. Waist high on me - 3 feet or so.

So, our routine was first thing in the morning, a big clean pot of water. Ducks would make do cleaning up with that. An hour later, I would change the water out and they would drink from it the rest of the day. But by spring, we were looking a little scraggly. Some more than others.

 

[fowlman01]

True enough, Walt, thank you.

We're actually building a pond now that they'll be a year old in early summer. In the meantime, do you have a suggestion for a very low height wading pool that they can still submerge most of the body into... is a kiddie pool the lowest? We've tried teaching them to use ramps into large rubber watering troughs (about as high off the ground as their coop, which has a ramp that they learned to use), & they haven't been game. When they were little babies, it was easy enough to just put them in, but certainly more challenging now.

Also, are you in a northern climate? If so, what do you do during winter? We have tried heating elements for all the water we provide, but I'm always a little concerned about burns & they don't work in the low temps we've seen this winter. The pond we're building will not have heating capability.

Cheers

Runners are very clean ducks if they have the right kind of pool. I use the 6' wading pools with a ramp made of hardware wire. The type where the holes are about 1/2 inch square. Anything you can use as a ramp will work. My pools occasionally freeze (I'm in California) but I don't have snow. These crusty eyes don't happen overnight, so if they have swimming water most of the time they will be fine. If you have a long period of snow, I would take the birds and make sure the heads get wet and lightly rub around the eye area to make sure that anything built up is dissolved. I have to take some of my Call ducks and manually swish them around in the pools to keep their eyes clean. some Calls are just not clean ducks. In this picture y9ou can see part of one of the pools.


I don't use the ramps when they are this size. I have aboutt 50 at this time of year. Just the breeders.

Walt

 

[stonykill]

I get deep snow, frozen water, -20 degrees F temps and keep the water open for the runners. I just break it open with a large piece of iron all winter long and top it off daily with hot water to melt a little. My Runners are clean and healthy all year round. They love to swim and bathe along side icebergs. Doesn't bother them in the least

 

[SidUccle]

Thanks for the suggestions. We did a lot of ice breaking & installing heating elements this winter, too. More snow & cold than we've had in awhile. I think I'm just going to have to keep working on different ramps & next winter, doing a better job of making sure they feel comfortable in their bathing area. The second bathing pool got set up today... a typical kiddie pool, like the one you have pictured, Walt. Much lower to the ground. Hope they like it.