Sick Duckling from hatchery.

areyougoosingme

In the Brooder
Dec 8, 2022
8
9
19
Okay. So I ordered 10 hybred Pekin no.53 ducklings from a big hatchery in the mid West.
They arrived alive and cute as buttons. Right away I notice 2 are much smaller than the rest and one in particular is just getting ruin over. Struggling to not get trampled and having a funny gait. So I pull him out and put the other little one with him. I start niacin (b complex) push and vitamins(rooster booster). A few days in, I realize that this little tiny one is really I'll. He had water eyes and he is struggling to get up and walk. He feels feverish and has swollen joints. He is having very yellow runny poop. His neck seems stiff and is in general just not doing well. Laying down to eat. Not dabbling or bathing/preening. So I did in to the Internet and decided that her midday be ill. I started him on oxytetracycline. He was about a week old. As time goes on, he fails to thrive, he had a very rapid heartbeat and I have to bathe him. His neck is still stiff and I can't get him to gain weight. At 3 wells I'm in a panic and I call the hatcher. They had not returned my email in a week. So I get this has on the phone, she tells me that he needs more protein, that he's a runt, that he will catch up if I feed him egg yolks. And I am telling her he is ill. He came to me Iill, at 3 days old he was sick. Unfortunately. 8 has one question she refused to answer. What is this illness? how do I treat it?
I got no help from the hatchery. Nothing. Just give him egg yolks.
fast forward a week and he is sick. Fighting. But sick. I contact the Water Foul Conservatory on the east coast by email. 8 just pleaded with them to help me with a rough diagnosis. He had so many assumptions and I can't get a handle on it. He's getting worse. A doctor emailed me back the next morning and basically said that the baby duck had e-coli. From his egg. He would be culled asap under normal circumstances. He was fighting and so was I. As things progressed he lost his ability to walk. I consulted with another very aver put him on a stronger avian antibiotic. This morning, after a 7 week fight, he died as I held him.
I am just glad he is no longer suffering. But very sad. He faught like a trooper.
I won't if the hatcher world have been honest with me. If they had told me about e-coli. And id stayed to treat it sooner, if I could have saved him
??
I am pretty upset as I feel that they hatchery knows that they have e-coli problems at their facility and they are not being upfront about that. A "runt" ducking is much different than a very sick little ducking.
I just won't off anyone else had experienced this terrible germ gone crazy in a tiny little 3 day old body and if I had known what it was sooner.... Could I have saved him?
And why would there hatchery not be upfront about this.? ( My gut tells me they knew exactly what the problem was.)

I am posting this because there is hardly any info, or maybe none out there on 3 day old ducklings being this sick. Or that it very well could be e-coli. All the info I found on this bacteria was referring to ducklings around 3 weeks old coming down sick.
So if you have a little sick one, consider e-coli. You may have better luck than I did🥺.
Any feedback is gladly welcomed.
 
It sounds like failure to thrive, it prevents birds from processing calories and developing normally. Or even birth defect. Sorry for your loss.
Did you ever physically get him looked at by a vet? Did you have a necropsy performed to verify any diagnosis? Unless you did, it's impossible to say what it was.
Hatcheries test regularly for many illnesses including e.coli, any sign of illness and the hatchery shuts down until the illness is gone.
What hatchery did you order from?
 
It sounds like failure to thrive, it prevents birds from processing calories and developing normally. Or even birth defect. Sorry for your loss.
Did you ever physically get him looked at by a vet? Did you have a necropsy performed to verify any diagnosis? Unless you did, it's impossible to say what it was.
Hatcheries test regularly for many illnesses including e.coli, any sign of illness and the hatchery shuts down until the illness is gone.
What hatchery did you order from?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom