Sunny is very quiet...

[Pet Duck Boy]

And another thing, she isn't coughing or sneezing at all. Just the occasional sneeze fit. Have I caught it early? Now that I think about it the weather has been crazy the last few days...it's droped down to the low 40s at night. I hear of everyones' ducks being fine out in the cold, so I figured Sunny was no different. Could I have made a big mistake?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Quote:
I'm pretty sure aregular vet can handle ducks, just need to ask. At this point I'm kinda lost on what it could be. Sorry.

Hopefully someone can come along that will know what's wrong.

My parents aren't willing to spend more than 20$.

All the vets my dad will take me to are strictly dog and cat vets. Around here I consider ones that will take birds "exotic".

 

[Shadowhills Farm]

Has she been able to clear her nostrils out lately? I know our ducks get like that once in a while, usually something stuck in there that they need to blow out. To me, it's too cold to let the ducks swim outside. Is it possible you can bring her inside to bathe? If not, I would suggest getting her a bucket or something filled with warm water. That way she can get her nostrils down in the bucket and blow bubbles.

Here's some websites about duck illnesses:
http://www.liveducks.com/health.html
http://duckrescuenetwork.org/duck_care.html#illness

Hope that helps.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
I'm pretty sure aregular vet can handle ducks, just need to ask. At this point I'm kinda lost on what it could be. Sorry.

Hopefully someone can come along that will know what's wrong.

It's been my experience that most regular vets refuse to see ducks.

I'll look through my bookmarks and see if I can't link you some articles.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

I've been giving her several baths a day, usually when it's around 50-60 degrees out. Surprisingly, she hasn't attempted to clear her nostrils. At least to my knowledge. I give her baths in a large trough, which is about 1 1/2 deep...so I assume she can easily blow her nose if she wants too.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Now she's tail bobbing, she wasn't doing this before.

This happened in a matter of 5-7 hours!

 

[Shadowhills Farm]

One I'm done typing my essay for english, I will see if I can pull more stuff up on the web.

 

[rainplace]

Disclaimer: I have not had to deal with a sick duck before so anything I link or cut and paste is not based on experience

I'm wondering if Sunny doesn't have worms. Especially after you posted the new symptoms.

I cut and pasted the below from an article found here: http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/page12.htm

"Birds with gapeworm infestation show signs of respiratory distress due to both the damage to the lungs and to the trachea that is caused by the worms. Young birds and bantams are especially vulnerable due to their relatively small trachea. Symptoms include depression, gasping for breath, and head shaking in an attempt to remove the worms from the trachea. Tracheal rales (a gurgling sound made during breathing that accompanies tracheal irritation) can be heard in many cases, and can sometimes be mistaken for an upper respiratory infection of some other cause.

The most commonly known worm ‘hosts’ (carriers) are the earthworm, cockroach, beetle, sowbug, grasshopper, and earwig. The earthworm is known specifically to carry the gapeworm.

In the case of the gapeworm, once a susceptible bird ingests an infested earthworm, the larvae penetrate the wall of the intestine and eventually end up in the lungs. Once in the lung, the larvae migrate into the bronchi. A molt of the larvae takes place resulting in the adult gapeworm, and the adult worms migrate up the respiratory tree to the trachea where the male and female worms intertwine and attach themselves to each other permanently. The entire process from the time the bird ingests the earthworm to the time adult gapeworms can be found in the trachea is approximately 7 days.

Gapeworm egg production begins about 14 days after infestation of the larvae. The eggs are then coughed up into the mouth of the bird and passed out into the feces. In the droppings, the eggs incubate for 8 to 14 days under optimum conditions of temperature and moisture to become infective larvae, thus completing the life cycle."

It may be worth reading through some of their articles. The full list can be found here: http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/contents.htm

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

I have fed her earthworms, wild ones too.

That could be a big possiblity, how do you get rid of them?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

I'm pretty sure she has gapeworm then, thanks rainplace. I've fed her many earthworms collected in my backyard before. She also has ceased egg production for the past 2 days...her "egg pouch" has droped in size. She yawns excesivly every few days. She doesn't shake her head too much, but she does at times. The article describes one of the sypmtoms as depressed, and that's definately how Sunny has been acting. In a way I'm glad it's not a respitory infection.