Sick mallard

[megan123]

I have a 8 month old mallard drake. Yesterday when I went out to feed a clean up their pool I noticed one of them had a swollen chest and was walking funny. He is not eating and is very lethargic. I thought that maybe he has a impacted crop but I am also under the impression that that only happens to chickens. I gave him some olive oil in his water and massaged his crop but other than that I don't know what to do. I called every vet in town and nobody treats ducks which is frustrating. Please help if you can.

 

[Amiga]

Okay, get him into a quiet area where you can watch him closely. I like to bring them to a lukewarm bathtub with water deep enough to float in. See if he poops. If so, I would doubt impaction. And ducks can get impacted.

Read the stickies about doing a flush. If he has ingested anything toxic, you may want to do that. But if he's impacted, that may not be the way to go.

I can only make suggestions, you need to go with your gut and knowledge, and you are right there and can see what is going on.

Could be parasites, I suppose, I am not real expert on that. But there is something called gapeworm.

Walking funny, kind of like he's drunk? It could be botulism. Has he been exposed to rotting carcasses or plant materials? If that's the case, a flush and loads of fresh clean water with activated charcoal (a food-grade supplement, not the barbecue stuff) may be the best thing to do.

I'll send this on now.

 

[megan123]

Thanks for the advice but when I went to check on him he was dead. I am now worried about what to do about my other drake. He is alone now and keeps calling for his buddy.

 

[Amiga]

So sad..... He needs another buddy. For now a stuffed toy and a mirror may help. See if there is a rescue group near you, or go to the rehoming forum on BYC.

 

[fowl farm]

Hope you can find new buddy for your other Mallard soon!

 

[megan123]

I hope he will be ok tonight. I tried to bring him inside to stay the night but he did not want to be inside. He was super protective over my other mallard while he was sick to the point of attacking me when I got anywhere near them and now he won't let me get near him. I hope he doesn't keep acting like this.

 

[Carcajou]

So sorry for your loss. Hope you can find a companion for your other drake soon, too.

 

[PekinBantam]

I'm so sorry.I feel for the drake, too, he must miss his buddy. I had a hen (duck) with the same problem last year, wonder if it was the same thing...

 

[megan123]

My surviving drake has found a new flock. He has been following my two dogs around all day. The funny thing about it is when my other drake was alive all they did when they saw my dogs was attack them. My dogs never even growled at them and would run instead of fight. My sweet dogs have been putting up with him today but look at me with eyes that say, 'is this duck for real'.

 

[desertdarlene]

At our lake, there is a Swedish drake who lost his lifelong Pekin buddy recently. The Swedish duck was glued to his Pekin friend, they never did anything without each other and had probably been together since they were day-olds. Even though he had other duck friends, his behavior has changed quite a bit. He mostly stays by himself, but constantly wants to do courtship honk-whistles with other males. Even when all his other friends are asleep, he's roaming around looking for males to play his game. He never did that when his friend was alive. There are other males who would gladly buddy up with him, but they don't want to play his game, so he doesn't stay with them.

It could be that, like this other drake, your boy is trying to figure things out because he's not used to being without his friend.