Unwell duck... What's going on?

[Jlw0903]

Hey all,
I have a 6 year old black swedish hen, Darla, who is showing signs of being unwell. I am not sure what is wrong with her and I honestly trust you all with diagnosis than a vet.

It's been real cold lately (we've had a stretch of wind chills in the negatives and last weekend wind-chill was -40 and has been -20s all week. At these temps the duckies are brought inside to the garage where it typically stays around 40 but never lower than 30 degrees.
It was bringing them in that I noticed that Darla seemed thin for what she should feel like in the winter - keel more prominent than the others and what is typical for her.
She's also been a bit more quite than usual and lower activity as compared to her normal and how the others were behaving.
I initially chalked at least the behavior change to her being cold as she has always been less tolerant of extreme temps than the others. A week in the garage hasn't changed that.
None of the ducks eat nearly as much when they stay in the garage due to it being warmer and not really a large area to move around in - they nap a lot when they aren't getting ion each other's nerves.

I'm not sure she's been eating her normal duck food but she has been more than happy to eat peas and mealworms.

Her poops aren't normal either. Not sure if it's due to not eating but they are "small" seem mostly water. There's really no substance to them. It seems like she's pooping less frequently too perhaps.
She is still bathing and preening - her feathers look good. She's been starting fights with one of my younger ducks so she's still got enough energy to have her bad attitude.
I've been able to walk up to the garage pen and scoop her up without her trying to stand up and get away when I've been bringing her in for baths. She's LOVING bath time in the warm tub water which she's been getting daily for the last 4-5 days and it definitely seems to pep her up but Im hesitant to attribute her compliance to her knowing and looking forward to the baths
We had all the ducks outside today with the weather going up to about 12 and being sunny so they could get into the pool and stretch a bit. When Darla got out of the pool it was like she was unable to stand up. And then when I walk up to her she struggle to get up to run away and had her wings splayed out which is what prompted this post.

Her crop doesn't feel hard.
She's been drinking plenty
Her tail isn't droppy
No drainage in nose, no coughing or sneezing,
Eyes are bright.
I don't anticipate her laying eggs for another month at the earliest so highly unlikely to be egg bound.

In summary:
Low weight
Possibly not eating normal food
Low energy
Quieter
Slight balance issues or low strength
Small/reduced/change in poops.

What's been done:
Warm baths
1 administration of rooster booster
Chest/crop massages (best I could - not sure it's a crop issue but idk. Plus she's so crooked it's hard to tell where things are on her haha)
Kisses and snuggles.


Suggestions on what's going on and treatments to try/do would be very much appreciated!

Update- she did eat a little bit of her normal duck food just now.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Can you post a picture of her poop?
You could try a dewormer or an antibiotic . If you can feel her keel bone sticking out then she is too thin and it could be some kind of infection or parasite . if you can’t take her to a vet , and want to treat her yourself with a dewormer or an antibiotic , do you have any on hand?
Post poop pictures, and Let me know what you have on hand and we can go from there.
Edit to add I see you already mentioned her keel bone is prominent.
I would be afraid to fill a tub for my birds when it’s only 12° out I wait till it gets closer to 30. But if you don’t leave it out too long and have an area to dump it where everybody’s not going to slip on the ice I guess it’s OK for a short time.
I think I would start both of dewormer like safeguard and an antibiotic such as Baytril.
And I would continue one ML of rooster booster, poultry cell daily for a few more days. You could also do a few hours of electrolyte water and then switch back to regular water.

 

[Jlw0903]

I was trying to get her weight and she pooped in the bucket I set her in. So able to get a good picture of it.
It's very watery and a sort of grass green color. She did get peas yesterday evening (it's 4pm now) otherwise she hasn't eaten anything green...

 

[Jlw0903]

Can you post a picture of her poop?
You could try a dewormer or an antibiotic . If you can feel her keel bone sticking out then she is too thin and it could be some kind of infection or parasite . if you can’t take her to a vet , and want to treat her yourself with a dewormer or an antibiotic , do you have any on hand?
Post poop pictures, and Let me know what you have on hand and we can go from there.
Edit to add I see you already mentioned her keel bone is prominent.
I would be afraid to fill a tub for my birds when it’s only 12° out I wait till it gets closer to 30. But if you don’t leave it out too long and have an area to dump it where everybody’s not going to slip on the ice I guess it’s OK for a short time.
I think I would start both of dewormer like safeguard and an antibiotic such as Baytril.
And I would continue one ML of rooster booster, poultry cell daily for a few more days. You could also do a few hours of electrolyte water and then switch back to regular water.

I posted a picture below of her poop.
I was thinking about running to TSC to get some electrolytes. Ive heard you can get safeguard at TSC? I don't have any on hand and I don't have baytril - is that something you need to get from a vet?

Since she is interested in treats do you think there would be any har in just feeding her peas and mealworms? I've not been giving her any today because I wanted her to eat her regular food and was worried about it maybe being sour crop? I've never had crop issues with any of my ducks. Or worm issues.

 

[Goosebaby]

Without a prescription you’ll have to buy Baytril and any other meds as fish or pigeon antibiotics.

This is where I used to get mine, “they apparently don’t ship to my state anymore.”

https://birdpalproducts.com/products/enrofloxacin-10-liquid-for-birds?_pos=1&_sid=0bbe255ab&_ss=r

Edit: Jedds has it too.

https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?_pos=1&_sid=e54ec0b4c&_ss=r

 

[Jlw0903]

Without a prescription you’ll have to buy Baytril and any other meds as fish or pigeon antibiotics.

This is where I used to get mine, “they apparently don’t ship to my state anymore.”

https://birdpalproducts.com/products/enrofloxacin-10-liquid-for-birds?_pos=1&_sid=0bbe255ab&_ss=r

Edit: Jedds has it too.

https://jedds.com/products/enrofloxacin-10?_pos=1&_sid=e54ec0b4c&_ss=r

Thanks for that! I keep meaning to get stuff to have on hand if needed.
I will say she's eating decent right now. Her last poop was still watery but appeared to have a bit more substance to it - hard to tell since it was on a towel but you can see more stuff in it. At least

I'm definitely going to get those items but it's seeming that her getting the nutridrench and the princess treatment she might already be doing better. Definitely acting a bit more sassy towards me at least - hissing and nipping which is more like her usual self.

 

[Jenbirdee]

No harm in her eating peas and mealworms for now at least she’s eating a little if she stops eating you might need to tube feed her. It sounds scarier than it is. I have had to tube feed Ducks for several days while the antibiotics were starting to work until they started eating on their own again.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Here’s one of the YouTube videos I found helpful when I first learned how to tube Feed

 

[Jlw0903]

No harm in her eating peas and mealworms for now at least she’s eating a little if she stops eating you might need to tube feed her. It sounds scarier than it is. I have had to tube feed Ducks for several days while the antibiotics were starting to work until they started eating on their own again.

She seemed to perk up and was eating the duck chow decently for a while - she's napping now.
I'm wondering if its not stress of some sort. She's been starting fights with one of the younger hens. She's the one that seems to be coming out on top. she's smaller but definitely meaner and the other two older ones from the same batch as her always back her up. Also maybe the longer stretch of cold could be affecting her as she's not as tolerant as the others. Maybe with her spinal issues the cold is causing her to be hurting and not wanting to eat. All speculation of course.
I think the antibiotic at least would be a good idea to run a course of just to be on the safe side.
I'll probably keep her isolated from the others for a bit too just in case the rest have been perfectly normal I should add.

 

[Jlw0903]

Here’s one of the YouTube videos I found helpful when I first learned how to tube Feed

I appreciate this! Definitely going to save it in case I need it