Strange duck behavior? please help!

[livingwithjane]

I fed my ducks some oats as a treat, and shortly after that a couple of them ran over to a tub of water and started acting odd. Edited to add... It's mostly the duck to the left of the tub.

If you watch the video I've linked here, you can see the behavior. (Note: They do have access to a larger tub of water and a pond.)

They dunk their head in the water like they normally do to clean out their eyes, but then they sort of spasm and fluff their feathers. Toward the end of the video one of them opens and closes her bill like she's gaging. The other was doing this too, I just didn't get it on film. After a while, they went on to preen and walk around chatting with the other ducks like normal.

Are they just going through the motions of bathing, without the actual body of water, or is something else going on that I should be worried about?

 

[sourland]

I don't think that it is anything to worry about. Looks like bathing/preening motions to me.

 

[KaleIAm]

Do you mean how they kind of fall to the ground? I don't think I've ever seen my ducks do that before when preening - and I spend a lot of time with them. How are they now?

A side note, my ducks heard your ducks quacking while I watched the clip and are now quacking up a storm. Maybe they think I have new friends for them to play with.

 

[livingwithjane]

Do you mean how they kind of fall to the ground? I don't think I've ever seen my ducks do that before when preening - and I spend a lot of time with them. How are they now?

A side note, my ducks heard your ducks quacking while I watched the clip and are now quacking up a storm. Maybe they think I have new friends for them to play with.

I'm sure my ducks would love to be friends with yours! Yeah, I was referring to how they were falling down and spasming, plus the "gaging" motion with their bill at the end of the video. They seem to be fine now, so whatever it was, it's passed. I'll be keeping an eye out though for any more strange behavior.

 

[KaleIAm]

I'm sure my ducks would love to be friends with yours! Yeah, I was referring to how they were falling down and spasming, plus the "gaging" motion with their bill at the end of the video. They seem to be fine now, so whatever it was, it's passed. I'll be keeping an eye out though for any more strange behavior.

I'm so glad they are feeling better!

Maybe the oats felt dry in their throats? It seems like that should be ok, since regular duck food is so dry. My ducks have done weird head shaky things to dislodge stuck things... Like the Great Slug Regurgitation Incident of 2017. But they never sat down, it just looks like they are really seriously shaking their head's, "NO!"

Let us know if it happens again.