- Feb 7, 2020
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Three days ago I found one of my ducks walking kind of wobbly, and not eating or being active. I separated him and gave him some poultry Nutridrench and electrolytes, and gave him a shallow waterer and feeder so he could access them easily.
I left him be for an hour and when I came back he looked bad. Really bad. He couldn't hold his head up and when he walked he stumbled all over and would trip himself. His wings were drooping while he was standing and he has no control of his head. He was also having tremors or mild seizures possibly, I've never seen a seizure in a bird personally so I don't totally know how it would look I guess. All I could think of was a possible toxin ingestion, such as a plant or bacteria, or west nile.
I started administering a charcoal flush hourly, tubing about 35 ml. each time. That was all I could get him to comfortably take. After four or five hours I switched to a molasses flush with a dollop of corn syrup in it as he was starting to get weaker and weaker and I though the molasses might perk him up.
I did that a few times, and then I came back out one of the times and he looked almost dead. He was shaking so badly and had his eyes closed, I decided to just not tube and let him go in peace. I took him out in the yard and just held him and stroked his face, thinking I'd just sit there and hold him a few minutes until he passed so he could have some comfort and love. Well, about fifteen minutes passed and he was still hanging on. So I tubed him some pretty potent corn syrup water and electrolytes. I got almost two full 35 ml. syringes in him. It was easy since he was pretty much dying.
I put him in the outdoor pen he had grown up in and that his siblings are still in since I thought he might be happier and more comfortable, I have a camera out there so I was watching him too.
I checked it again maybe half an hour later, and he had moved a few feet and was standing???
I was pretty surprised. He was still wobbly but not bad. I just kept going with what I had been doing, and he was ok-ish, but by early morning when I went out there he was back to looking not great. I had to leave for the weekend so I had my sister tubing him, I had her bring him inside in a small crate so he would be closer and easier to feed. She called me this morning and said that he was up and trying to get out when she opened the door, she said he was eating and drinking on his own and doing way better. I told her she could take him out to a grow out pen with his food and water so he wouldn't hurt himself in the crate. Well she called me around noon and said he was holding his head kind of weird. I wasn't sure what she meant by that so I said just leave him and I'll look when I get home. She called me a few hours later and said he had his neck all twisted up and it looked way worse now. We only had an hour left until I would be back so I checked on him as soon as I got home, and I'm not sure what to think. He is holding his neck and head super strangely, and is walking wobbly again. I took a pic and a good video but I can't get the video to upload.
I'll post the pic for now and keep working on the video.
She said he also was getting irritated in his one eye so she rinsed it out, that's what the wet area is. I'm not sure what he would have done there either. He has such a strong will to live and I want to help him. He's one of my only drakes and I would really like to not lose him.
There has been nothing new, no food changes, no extreme heat or cold, no new birds, and not really anything he could have gotten into. He's a young bird, hatched late May. He can't quite fly yet so he couldn't have crashed into the side of my pen, and there is no predator access in any way. I thought about botulism but I don't know where he would have gotten that.
There's not any dirty standing water in my pen. There are some plants in there. The ducks are really good about not eating anything they aren't supposed to and all they've ever chewed at is my one sunflower plant.
I know there's wormwood in here and I now it's toxic in higher doses, but it shows no evidence of being chewed at at all. I don't know what some of the other plants are but they don't mess with them either.
My pond is always kept clean
And they get constant access to fresh high quality feed. I don't leave anything bad or moldy laying around.
I did also find my duck's brother almost dead a couple days ago, completely out of the blue. It was early morning and he had been totally normal the whole previous day, eating, drinking, preening, etc. He died while I was still quickly checking him over. He was gasping so I checked the throat first to make sure he wasn't choking on something, but I didn't see anything and I've noticed when I lose birds they do sometimes gasp right before dying.
I saved him and am planning on opening him up with a friend hopefully tomorrow. I can post pics, I've never done a necropsy so not sure about what I'll be looking at. I don't know if his sudden death is related to my sick guy or not, but it was weird.
Anyway, what can I do for him now, and what would be causing the neck twisting thing? It seemed to develop gradually today according to my sister. I gave him some b complex and vitamin E since it reminds me of wry neck, I figured it couldn't hurt. But I'm thinking that's not it.
I taught my sister how to tube feed with a quick crash course before leaving, but she's pretty good with my birds and I know she wouldn't have been really rough or anything. So I'm just not sure.
@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @casportpony @shawluvsbirds @WVduckchick
I left him be for an hour and when I came back he looked bad. Really bad. He couldn't hold his head up and when he walked he stumbled all over and would trip himself. His wings were drooping while he was standing and he has no control of his head. He was also having tremors or mild seizures possibly, I've never seen a seizure in a bird personally so I don't totally know how it would look I guess. All I could think of was a possible toxin ingestion, such as a plant or bacteria, or west nile.
I started administering a charcoal flush hourly, tubing about 35 ml. each time. That was all I could get him to comfortably take. After four or five hours I switched to a molasses flush with a dollop of corn syrup in it as he was starting to get weaker and weaker and I though the molasses might perk him up.
I did that a few times, and then I came back out one of the times and he looked almost dead. He was shaking so badly and had his eyes closed, I decided to just not tube and let him go in peace. I took him out in the yard and just held him and stroked his face, thinking I'd just sit there and hold him a few minutes until he passed so he could have some comfort and love. Well, about fifteen minutes passed and he was still hanging on. So I tubed him some pretty potent corn syrup water and electrolytes. I got almost two full 35 ml. syringes in him. It was easy since he was pretty much dying.
I put him in the outdoor pen he had grown up in and that his siblings are still in since I thought he might be happier and more comfortable, I have a camera out there so I was watching him too.
I checked it again maybe half an hour later, and he had moved a few feet and was standing???
I was pretty surprised. He was still wobbly but not bad. I just kept going with what I had been doing, and he was ok-ish, but by early morning when I went out there he was back to looking not great. I had to leave for the weekend so I had my sister tubing him, I had her bring him inside in a small crate so he would be closer and easier to feed. She called me this morning and said that he was up and trying to get out when she opened the door, she said he was eating and drinking on his own and doing way better. I told her she could take him out to a grow out pen with his food and water so he wouldn't hurt himself in the crate. Well she called me around noon and said he was holding his head kind of weird. I wasn't sure what she meant by that so I said just leave him and I'll look when I get home. She called me a few hours later and said he had his neck all twisted up and it looked way worse now. We only had an hour left until I would be back so I checked on him as soon as I got home, and I'm not sure what to think. He is holding his neck and head super strangely, and is walking wobbly again. I took a pic and a good video but I can't get the video to upload.
I'll post the pic for now and keep working on the video.
She said he also was getting irritated in his one eye so she rinsed it out, that's what the wet area is. I'm not sure what he would have done there either. He has such a strong will to live and I want to help him. He's one of my only drakes and I would really like to not lose him.
There has been nothing new, no food changes, no extreme heat or cold, no new birds, and not really anything he could have gotten into. He's a young bird, hatched late May. He can't quite fly yet so he couldn't have crashed into the side of my pen, and there is no predator access in any way. I thought about botulism but I don't know where he would have gotten that.
There's not any dirty standing water in my pen. There are some plants in there. The ducks are really good about not eating anything they aren't supposed to and all they've ever chewed at is my one sunflower plant.
I know there's wormwood in here and I now it's toxic in higher doses, but it shows no evidence of being chewed at at all. I don't know what some of the other plants are but they don't mess with them either.
My pond is always kept clean
And they get constant access to fresh high quality feed. I don't leave anything bad or moldy laying around.
I did also find my duck's brother almost dead a couple days ago, completely out of the blue. It was early morning and he had been totally normal the whole previous day, eating, drinking, preening, etc. He died while I was still quickly checking him over. He was gasping so I checked the throat first to make sure he wasn't choking on something, but I didn't see anything and I've noticed when I lose birds they do sometimes gasp right before dying.
I saved him and am planning on opening him up with a friend hopefully tomorrow. I can post pics, I've never done a necropsy so not sure about what I'll be looking at. I don't know if his sudden death is related to my sick guy or not, but it was weird.
Anyway, what can I do for him now, and what would be causing the neck twisting thing? It seemed to develop gradually today according to my sister. I gave him some b complex and vitamin E since it reminds me of wry neck, I figured it couldn't hurt. But I'm thinking that's not it.
I taught my sister how to tube feed with a quick crash course before leaving, but she's pretty good with my birds and I know she wouldn't have been really rough or anything. So I'm just not sure.
@Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @casportpony @shawluvsbirds @WVduckchick
