Under the weather duckie

[AmericanamamaNC]

Sprinkles will be 7 weeks on Tuesday. We’ve lost both her siblings over the last 3 weeks. She’s been doing quite well, eating and drinking like a champ. She’s become quite the spoiled ducky and wanting to be held or at least where she can see me. She sleeps in a big clear Rubbermaid tub next to our bed. Last night she was up every hour and would cry if she wasn’t being held by me. I would hold her and she’d go back to sleep for an hour or so then wake up again. I offered fresh food and fresh water each time she awoke. She’s barely drank anything since last night, literally maybe two sips and has eaten nothing. Her poop is runny and was just black. And this morning, she kept jerking her neck to one side. If I was holding her and gently petting her it would stop so I wondered if she was having some sort of muscle spasm. I tried a little bit of applesauce thinking that might appeal to her. No luck. Added a few drops of acv in her water, again just one little sip. This is a little duck who usually dances when she sees me fixing her food and she wants nothing to do with it. She is asleep in her bed right now. Any suggestions?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

What happened to the other two? What have you been feeding them (feed and treats)? What kind of ducks are we talking about? Where did you get them from?
I am not the expert but I believe they will need this information.

 

[AmericanamamaNC]

They are Muscovy. Got them at our local feed and grain store. Food is Barlett game feed, what the man at feed and grain said they use. After the first duck died, I started adding some oats, brewers yeast and grubblies meal worms and occasionally pepitas, but I grind the pepitas and meal worms into smaller more manageable pieces. I was concerned about not enough niacin and/or protein. I also have probiotic and electrolyte powder I add to water and I bought some poultry drench that I’ve used a few times. But I always finish her feeding with plain water.
First duck was dead when we went into the coop and had been fine, up and walking around when my husband had gone out earlier in the day. We promptly removed their cage from the chickens coop thinking maybe the chickens were stressing them. They were protected where nothing could get in the cage. We brought the remaining two inside and all seemed well. Last week the larger of the two was fine, had just finished eating and drinking and I always dry them off after so they don’t chill. When I picked him up he acted odd, stumbled around, then started arching them his back, twitching and throwing his head around. He was dead within an hour. Reading online, we suspected a virus or duck hepatitis. We washed out their container (switched to a big clear Rubbermaid tub when we brought them inside) put all fresh bedding (pine chips) and we’ve had no problems until today, so 8 days since #2 passed.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I am so sorry! It sound like you are doing everything right. Hopefully those who are more knowledgeable about disease will answer you soon.

 

[Isaac 0]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens, sorry to hear you're having problems with your duck.

Do you, or could you post a video of the duck doing the muscle spasms? To post a video, you'll need to upload the video to a video platform like Yotube or Vimeo, and copy/paste the link here.

Could you post a few pictures of her poop? Do you have a few pictures of what she's kept in? Is she eating and drinking this evening?