Thanks. I thought I had mentioned her leg problems too but I see now that I didn't. My ducks occasionally do have problems with their legs but the problems usually show and then go away for a while. So I didnt really link the two problems. She had started limping some for a couple of days before when we started noticing her not eating as much as usual. By the time I separated her, she had gotten to the point where she was falling around but I had thought it was due to her getting weak from not eating as much--but she was still eating some. That's when I tried getting her to eat more though. The day before she died, I sat her on the ground and her legs couldn't even support her. She was trying to push herself on the ground with her wings. She appeared to be having some issues holding her head up as well but she kept making it seem like she was dropping her head to forage out of the grass. I had her sitting on my lap in the grass like this picture. She seemed very lethargic and had trouble keeping her eyes open on her last day. She barely ate anything but I gave her Nutri-drench in her water and orally a few times that day thinking that if I could keep nutrients in her, she would be okay. She just needed to get her strength back. Since it was a weekend, I had planned to take her to a vet Monday morning but it was too late.
Tuesday evening, one of my other ducks started stumbling around the coop and could barely control her neck muscles. I took her out and tried to get her to eat but she had trouble eating. After reading about duck issues after our duck died, we had speculated maybe botulism took her down so quickly so we didn't waste any time. I started this duck on a flush that night and the next day, she showed some improvement. After three days of treatment she is back to her old self now. Some of our other ducks had problems with limber neck as well. We've treated our whole flock now and sanitized the coop. They all seem better.
We think that a couple of things could have happened..they are very messy drinkers and leave mud around their buckets. It had also rained and they had been playing in the mud. They may have picked up the toxin from the puddles. We also have a rat infestation that we have been working with the exterminator to get rid of. Maybe they brought the disease. The ducks also spill food under the feeders (which I now am trying to do better about picking up at night). Although I didn't see anything molded, it may have caused this problem.
I appreciate the info about the other diseases that may look like botulism for future references. Because of the success of the flushes and their symptoms, I'm almost positive that's what they had this time and what killed my other duck.
