Hey BYC, long time follower, first time poster.
We recently ended up with a pair of pekin ducks that had been abandoned at a local park. They were mostly grown, but still young, just losing the last of their fluff when we got them. Judging by their temperament and lack of duck sense, I gather they had been raised indoors in a small cage and did not experience the outdoors much. They never seemed right, never grazed, had zero desire to explore to do anything but chill in a kiddie pool all day. They also had issues walking, and often stumbled about "drunk" and fell a lot. Their feet turned inward, but not as bad as some instances I have seen on BYC. I'm not sure what that was all about, maybe due to how they had been raised, or maybe niacin deficiency. In any case, they were on duck food with niacin, plus additional niacin supplement for good measure. This seemed to help a little I think.
Anyway, this morning I found them both dead in their small coop. I had immediately thought heat stroke, as it's quite hot here right now, but the coop is ventilated by a window, and partially shaded by a large tree. We've had them like this for a little over a month like this with no issues in that regard. They were also very stiff and cold, so I gather that they had probably expired some time over night, and not more recently this morning. I had also just cleaned their coop last night, so wondered if maybe it was something in the pine (not cedar) shavings, or perhaps a contaminate in their water... I really have no idea. A number of waterfowl diseases sound like they could cause this, but both birds, at the exact same time?
We recently ended up with a pair of pekin ducks that had been abandoned at a local park. They were mostly grown, but still young, just losing the last of their fluff when we got them. Judging by their temperament and lack of duck sense, I gather they had been raised indoors in a small cage and did not experience the outdoors much. They never seemed right, never grazed, had zero desire to explore to do anything but chill in a kiddie pool all day. They also had issues walking, and often stumbled about "drunk" and fell a lot. Their feet turned inward, but not as bad as some instances I have seen on BYC. I'm not sure what that was all about, maybe due to how they had been raised, or maybe niacin deficiency. In any case, they were on duck food with niacin, plus additional niacin supplement for good measure. This seemed to help a little I think.
Anyway, this morning I found them both dead in their small coop. I had immediately thought heat stroke, as it's quite hot here right now, but the coop is ventilated by a window, and partially shaded by a large tree. We've had them like this for a little over a month like this with no issues in that regard. They were also very stiff and cold, so I gather that they had probably expired some time over night, and not more recently this morning. I had also just cleaned their coop last night, so wondered if maybe it was something in the pine (not cedar) shavings, or perhaps a contaminate in their water... I really have no idea. A number of waterfowl diseases sound like they could cause this, but both birds, at the exact same time?