- Jun 7, 2012
- 8
- 0
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Here's what showed up on my town forum email today, and I have looked through the threads here but not had much luck. Sharing for my neighbor's sake, (I don't think he's joined up yet) and I'll send him the link to this thread.
"My family decided to expand our poultry raising from chickens to ducks, geese and turkeys this spring. The geese are great, but the ducks, not so much. They seemed very healthy for several weeks, but now at about 5 or 6 weeks of age, they are dying.
One after another, they go from looking healthy, to separating themselves from the group and being listless and then dead the next day. We have lost 3 in the past 3 days and another is looking sick. Other than being listless and not associating with the others, the only symptom I see (based on the currently sick duck) is a rapid respiratory rate (faster than the other ducks).
The ducks are housed with the geese next to our chicken coop at night. There is ventilation between the 2 but no direct contact. They were kept in our home over nights until earlier this week when we moved them outside to their outdoor coop.
The first one that died started looking sick just as we were moving them to the outdoor coop at night (so I don't think the issue is the coop), although we had the ducks outside in a fenced area during the daytimes for several days prior. When I look at the dead ducks afterwards, there is nothing remarkable. No cloudy eyes, discoloration or anything obvious, but I am a perinatologist not a vet, so I can't say I know what I am looking for!
ACTUALLY, now my family says they started getting sick immediately after they started over-nighting in the coop next too the chicken coop, so I can't rule out the coop and proximity to the chickens as part of the problem. The geese are in the same space though, and they still look great.
If anyone has any experience with ducks, please let me know!
Thanks."
and thanks from me, too! I did send this neighbor a few links to other threads here that might line up, but any suggestions are welcome.
I also mentioned checking feed & water for spoilage, trying to isolate the ducklings, and maybe bringing them back inside at night (it's been rather cool here last few nights.)
"My family decided to expand our poultry raising from chickens to ducks, geese and turkeys this spring. The geese are great, but the ducks, not so much. They seemed very healthy for several weeks, but now at about 5 or 6 weeks of age, they are dying.
One after another, they go from looking healthy, to separating themselves from the group and being listless and then dead the next day. We have lost 3 in the past 3 days and another is looking sick. Other than being listless and not associating with the others, the only symptom I see (based on the currently sick duck) is a rapid respiratory rate (faster than the other ducks).
The ducks are housed with the geese next to our chicken coop at night. There is ventilation between the 2 but no direct contact. They were kept in our home over nights until earlier this week when we moved them outside to their outdoor coop.
The first one that died started looking sick just as we were moving them to the outdoor coop at night (so I don't think the issue is the coop), although we had the ducks outside in a fenced area during the daytimes for several days prior. When I look at the dead ducks afterwards, there is nothing remarkable. No cloudy eyes, discoloration or anything obvious, but I am a perinatologist not a vet, so I can't say I know what I am looking for!
ACTUALLY, now my family says they started getting sick immediately after they started over-nighting in the coop next too the chicken coop, so I can't rule out the coop and proximity to the chickens as part of the problem. The geese are in the same space though, and they still look great.
If anyone has any experience with ducks, please let me know!
Thanks."
and thanks from me, too! I did send this neighbor a few links to other threads here that might line up, but any suggestions are welcome.
I also mentioned checking feed & water for spoilage, trying to isolate the ducklings, and maybe bringing them back inside at night (it's been rather cool here last few nights.)
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