VanIsleWelshies
Hatching
- Apr 9, 2021
- 2
- 7
- 9
Hi folks, I'll try to keep this short and to the point:
We are first-time duck owners on Vancouver Island. We purchased 5 welsh harlequin females ducklings last summer. We built them a lovely area with space to range and also a nice enclosed lock-up area at night to keep safe. They have a large bathtub in their night enclosure for swimming in that is cleaned regularly. They are well cared for to the best of our knowledge, and we are the kind of folks who engage in "good research" before we start something like this.
They started laying a few weeks ago. We were never sure if all of them were laying or not, but one of them didn't get quite as "fat" as the others when they started laying, so we assumed she was a late bloomer. She seemed fine other than being very slightly smaller (not runty).
We found her floating in her bath a week and a half ago. Not drowned - her head leaning on her back. No outward signs of distress.
All other ducks kept behaving normally - eating, foraging, laying, quacking delightfully.
This morning, we found another one dead in the same circumstances - floating in the tub. The remaining three ducks are all still "normal". Again, no outward signs of distress. There's definitely NOTHING getting in there and killing them.
The only thing that is different in how we care for them is we recently opened up a larger part of the yard to them for occasional foraging under supervision. We were certain the ground was clean, but obviously we aren't foraging ducks.... and based on my research, there's two potential culprits here - either eggs getting stuck inside, or object poisoning.
Is anyone able to provide me with more insight? Or other suggestions as to why they may have died?
Thanks in advance. We're kind of stressing now and don't want to lose any more of our girls.
We are first-time duck owners on Vancouver Island. We purchased 5 welsh harlequin females ducklings last summer. We built them a lovely area with space to range and also a nice enclosed lock-up area at night to keep safe. They have a large bathtub in their night enclosure for swimming in that is cleaned regularly. They are well cared for to the best of our knowledge, and we are the kind of folks who engage in "good research" before we start something like this.
They started laying a few weeks ago. We were never sure if all of them were laying or not, but one of them didn't get quite as "fat" as the others when they started laying, so we assumed she was a late bloomer. She seemed fine other than being very slightly smaller (not runty).
We found her floating in her bath a week and a half ago. Not drowned - her head leaning on her back. No outward signs of distress.
All other ducks kept behaving normally - eating, foraging, laying, quacking delightfully.
This morning, we found another one dead in the same circumstances - floating in the tub. The remaining three ducks are all still "normal". Again, no outward signs of distress. There's definitely NOTHING getting in there and killing them.
The only thing that is different in how we care for them is we recently opened up a larger part of the yard to them for occasional foraging under supervision. We were certain the ground was clean, but obviously we aren't foraging ducks.... and based on my research, there's two potential culprits here - either eggs getting stuck inside, or object poisoning.
Is anyone able to provide me with more insight? Or other suggestions as to why they may have died?
Thanks in advance. We're kind of stressing now and don't want to lose any more of our girls.
