Sudden duckling death?

[pappaduck]

Thank you for this - I will be studying this tonight!

 

[casportpony]

Thank you for this - I will be studying this tonight!

Contact this place and ask about having a necropsy done. If it's something you're willing to consider, refrigerate the body until you can ship it on Monday. Do not freeze.

 

[casportpony]

Oops, forgot the link:
https://www.uoguelph.ca/ahl/

 

[pappaduck]

Oops, forgot the link:
https://www.uoguelph.ca/ahl/

That's a great suggestion (and UoG is only 45 min away) but I buried the duck quite soon after as it was a hot day and there it was already lots of flies. However, should any more succumb we will do this.

 

[pappaduck]

one last update which I totally forget. The ducklings were on a 3:1 ratio of food and flaked oats as per Holderread. We introduced the oats around week 3 and they had been on the full mix for the last week.

 

[casportpony]

Did you happen to notice what his poop looked like before he died?

 

[pappaduck]

Did you happen to notice what his poop looked like before he died?

no, sorry

 

[pappaduck]

Hello all
For the benefit of future readers of this thread I thought I would give a one week update. No further fatalities nor even signs of the same illness

We cleaned out the whole duck house and then disinfected it with a mix of hydrogen peroxide and apple cider vinegar diluted in water. We also disinfected all the feed & water utensils and all the brushes, shovels and forks we used.

We started adding Niacin at 125mg/gallon to their water (plus a dash of the vinegar) and we changed the food brand. I did ring the original food manufacturer who assured me all the B vitamins were in there but some reason in Canada they are not allowed to list them!? But we changed anyway to an organic brand our local duck breeder uses.

So for now we will have to put Augustus' death down to 'sudden and unexplained'. Thank you to everyone for your help and condolences.

PD