Sluggish, Possibly Bloated Duck Question

[Miss Lydia]

@onaharley sometimes tags get our attention better!​

 

[3bird]

UPDATE: Our wonderful vet gave us a phone consult today. She said Martha does look like she's moving heavily in the video. She said Martha doesn't necessarily look eggbound to her because she is moving and usually in that case they are just lying down. She said the most important things for now are to keep her warm and watch her. She said we could bring Martha in to the house if we feel like that's best, or we could put all the ducks together so they keep each other warm. She said if anything feels off during a thorough examination, then we should take Martha to emergency care.

We subsequently spent some time with her and her buddies while they were swimming and preening this evening, and Martha was still acting herself. She ate enthusiastically and drank normally and appeared to be moving without issues. She was first for mealworms! Given all of this, combined with the great advice here, we're leaving her with her girls tonight, assuming they will all snuggle into the duckhouse together (we'll check the camera to be sure).

For those of you familiar with our wee flock, this is not unlike the situation with Mouse this summer. The big difference is that Mouse would get even worse, then pass a poorly formed egg and be fine. We have had no egg between the way Martha presented last night and her apparently normal behaviour today. We'll update again if things change.

Thanks again to all!

 

[onaharley]

Thank you so much for sharing. Please keep us posted. Did the vet say the infection and inflammation are related to the deficiencies in her diet?

Well, kind of. Their diet is good as it consists of maintenance feed, oysters shells, nutritional yeast. Snacks are a plethora of greens, which varies every week. And of coarse mealworms, but she want all of the above plus the beta carotene and protein to aid in her recovery and help with the sluggishness. Just over the past week I observed this sluggish behavior. Just randomly laid down or just standing still and staring into space.

 

[casportpony]

Update?

 

[3bird]

Update?

Thanks for checking in! Martha continue to be doing great. Perhaps she was just missing her boy Angus? Love sick?

 

[Miss Lydia]

So happy to hear Martha is doing great!! How about Angus?

 

[3bird]

So happy to hear Martha is doing great!! How about Angus?

Angus is doing great as well! He had a good night last night with the flock, and he has successfully deployed and recovered his gear.

 

[3bird]

Here's the whole crew this morning:

 

[onaharley]

Angus is doing great as well! He had a good night last night with the flock, and he has successfully deployed and recovered his gear.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It’s a wonder it isn’t frozen in place after dragging through that deep snow,they all look great!!!