Sleepy duckling not eating much HELP!

[Miss Lydia]

That is such good news! I am so happy for you. And Sage too. Did you give her a mirror?
You can try giving her warm water up to top of her legs and see how she does. She def can't stay with clogged nares. Can she dunk her head into the waterer you have for her in her brooder?

 

[picklestheduck]

That is such good news! I am so happy for you. And Sage too. Did you give her a mirror?
You can try giving her warm water up to top of her legs and see how she does. She def can't stay with clogged nares. Can she dunk her head into the waterer you have for her in her brooder?

Yes I believe she can, she just chooses not too since every time she does she inhales water. She never really had much interest in swimming/bathing like the others did. She did seem more comfortable once when I lowered her into the water on my hand and she wanted to stand in my hand so I just held her there. I'll try that again.

 

[picklestheduck]

I just put her in some water that was just lower than the top of her legs and she just sat there at first but then tried to groom her tummy by turning her head upside down underwater and trying to groom the downy feathers down there. She then jerked her head up and flung it and blew out some water from her mouth and immediately started the clicking noise again. It all happened in like a split second. I pulled her out right away and started to dry her off. Then I tried it just once more and she tried to do the same thing. I have no clue what to do for her if she can't clean her nares by herself.

 

[NatJ]

Maybe you can give her a deeper container of water, that is just big enough for her to put her head but not body into, and leave it available in her brooder for her to experiment with.

She might just need practice, and since you keep taking away the deeper water she has very few chances to practice.

(I'm not a duck expert, so my idea could be all wrong. You might want to check with @Miss Lydia before trying it.)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did her sticking her head underwater not help with her nares?I agree with @NatJ she def needs a bowl to stick her head in to clean out those nares. I think I showed you a picture of what I made for mine. Or you could try using tweezers and pick it out but as small as she is I don’t think that would work

 

[picklestheduck]

Did her sticking her head underwater not help with her nares?I agree with @NatJ she def needs a bowl to stick her head in to clean out those nares. I think I showed you a picture of what I made for mine. Or you could try using tweezers and pick it out but as small as she is I don’t think that would work

yeah. I'm trying to make one of those but I can't find our utility knife. I'll have to go buy one soon. No putting her head under didn't help her nares since she just seemed to inhale it through her mouth. Its so frustrating and saddening.

 

[picklestheduck]

GUESS WHAT??!?!?! This morning I gave Sage another bath, and she didn't really do much but sip the water, and I took her out and dried her off...but then I just had a feeling I needed to put her back in, and so I did, and she like leaned forward to sip it I think and fell and her head plunged underwater and she was surprised and blew out and shook her head! She only cleared one of her nares, BUT its still improvement!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That's a good start!!

 

[picklestheduck]

Hey sorry it took me a while to respond. Its been rough. My golden laced wyandotte last night had an egg break internally and she passed a broken yolk and the white and the shell was originally sticking out it has disappeared back inside of her. We are worried about infection and stuff so I have her moved into my room also and have been STRESSING over her for the last 24 hours. Sage on the other hand has been perking up. he still limps bad on her left leg, I almost wonder if its going to be permanent, but she has started dunking her head and blowing out her nares ( one is still slightly plugged but shes been better) and she seems to not inhale water like she did (knock on wood) She is more feisty, and does not appreciate being force fed and will spit things back out. She peeps SO loud and likes to wake me up at 4am to talk to me and just be obnoxiously loud in her water. She still isn't really eating her crumbles or egg on her own, BUT if I put crushed mealworms in her water she will gobble them up! She has REALLY started to act like a duck. Shes not out of the woods yet but shes improving. And she does like talking to the neighbor hen she gets to see now. She still loves her froggie with all her heart, and always has to go snuggle him. This little duckling means so much to me and I'm happy to see her doing better. I only hope she keeps going up hill from here.

 

[picklestheduck]

Hey sorry it took me a while to respond. Its been rough. My golden laced wyandotte last night had an egg break internally and she passed a broken yolk and the white and the shell was originally sticking out it has disappeared back inside of her. We are worried about infection and stuff so I have her moved into my room also and have been STRESSING over her for the last 24 hours. Sage on the other hand has been perking up. he still limps bad on her left leg, I almost wonder if its going to be permanent, but she has started dunking her head and blowing out her nares ( one is still slightly plugged but shes been better) and she seems to not inhale water like she did (knock on wood) She is more feisty, and does not appreciate being force fed and will spit things back out. She peeps SO loud and likes to wake me up at 4am to talk to me and just be obnoxiously loud in her water. She still isn't really eating her crumbles or egg on her own, BUT if I put crushed mealworms in her water she will gobble them up! She has REALLY started to act like a duck. Shes not out of the woods yet but shes improving. And she does like talking to the neighbor hen she gets to see now. She still loves her froggie with all her heart, and always has to go snuggle him. This little duckling means so much to me and I'm happy to see her doing better. I only hope she keeps going up hill from here.

I may feel and look like a zombie and my eyes hurt and have dark circles under them, but my animals do really get the best care I can manage. People have told me to stop pushing myself but I cant stand back and watch my babies suffer.