runner duck is acting strange

[jrobertson]

i have several runner ducks but noticed one hen today standin upright but with her neck sucked in. she seems kinda weak but was fine yesterday. i had her at the local fair with her mate and saw her condition so i brought her home. the stall they were in had a pine shaving floor. my ducks are not used to being on shavings. do you think its possible she ingested some of the shavings? all of the other ducks in the same stall are still doing well. she is a young hen. full sized but not laying yet.

 

[katharinad]

It's possible that she ate something besides the pine shavings? I would isolate her for observation and put her on vitamins and electrolytes to boost here immune system. I hope she gets better fast. Perhaps she is just stressed out, some ducks don't like changes at all.

 

[CityChicker]

Ducks sometimes develop a furrow in the keel area. That is probably what you are seeing. If it is an obstruction from the shavings, it should be pretty easy to feel, especially with a Runner. Regardless of what you may read even sometimes from academic sources, ducks do not have an actual "crop" per se, so it is often easy to feel significant impactions. I would gently feel around the area and see if you feel anything like an obstruction.

Really, it may be nothing though.

 

[jrobertson]

sadly, we lost her some time during the night. thanks for all the input though.

 

[foxhomechickens]

Sorry to hear she died thats never fun

 

[CityChicker]

I'm so sorry to hear that! It probably was an impaction/obstruction then. They can go very quickly from that and unfortunately even in the best of hands, they often go (even with surgery). Again, I'm so sorry to hear that. Usually after they reach even a few weeks old, they won't gorge themselves on shavings (very rarely anyway). I don't think there is anything you could have done. It is just a sort of freak occurrence when they do it.