Vomiting/Sick Duck

[AmandaVirus]

My little Poppy (~5 month old Ancona hen) has been lethargic and ill looking for most of the day, she has thrown up mucus looking liquid 3-4 times and looks a bit bloated. I gave her some activated charcoal, and plan on doing it again soon. I haven't noticed much improvement and am about ready to isolate her and give her an Epsom salt flush. My question is: Do you think I should give the charcoal a bit more time to take effect, or should I just bring her in and give her the flush? I also haven't seen her eat any feed (only a bit of earthworms) so I'm getting quiet concerned about her, she (and my other two) are my loved pets, and I will do anything to help her. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Right now it's raining and the other two are having a blast in the puddles, but she's just hanging out in the run out of the rain.

 

[Amiga]

This is one where you need to go with your instincts. The charcoal does take a little while to work, and depending on the toxin load . . .

Just be sure to give her electrolytes and keep her hydrated during and after the flush if you decide to do the flush tonight.

If you stick with the charcoal, the sticky recommends 6 to 8 times a day. How much charcoal are you using per cup of water? Just wondering.

Prayers for wisdom and healing. I may not be online much longer tonight, but plan to check the forum in the morning.

 

[AmandaVirus]

Thanks for the quick reply. I put 4-5 capsules in 8 oz of water, looked like about a teaspoon like the sticky said to use. I think I am going to bring her in and give her the flush... better safe than sorry, I'm concerned about stressing her out by separating her, though. i'll make sure she has plenty of fresh water with electrolytes.

ETA: I don't know what caused her to get sick, I just hope she didn't eat any plastic or anything, we find so much little bits of trash in our yard... the previous owners used the yard as a burn pile, even though that was over 20 years ago, stuff keeps showing up.

 

[Amiga]

We do what we can. I understand not wantiing to stress her but you are right to want to help her through this. I would start her back on the charcoal after the flush.

 

[AmandaVirus]

I made her a spot in my bedroom, and she was just standing there scared, wouldn't drink or anything. I brought the others in and replaced the flush with more charcoal slurry and gave them some peas to calm down. Poppy ate some peas, some regular feed and drank with the others. they all seem happy and content wanting to explore my room like they did as babies. i'll keep them in over night and bring them back outside in the morning, and continue with the charcoal slurry throughout the day. At this point, the flush doesn't quite seem necessary.

 

[Amiga]

I hope she continues to improve. Must be nice having them in your room. When we had our eleven in the house, I would spread an old sheet in the hallway while cleaning out the brooder room. It was a little mess, but it was fun.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for the quick reply. I put 4-5 capsules in 8 oz of water, looked like about a teaspoon like the sticky said to use. I think I am going to bring her in and give her the flush... better safe than sorry, I'm concerned about stressing her out by separating her, though. i'll make sure she has plenty of fresh water with electrolytes.

ETA: I don't know what caused her to get sick, I just hope she didn't eat any plastic or anything, we find so much little bits of trash in our yard... the previous owners used the yard as a burn pile, even though that was over 20 years ago, stuff keeps showing up.

I know about things just showing up last week I found an old sock that washed up from all the rain, no telling how long that had been there. I hope your girl is feeling better this morning.

 

[AmandaVirus]

She seemed okay last night, I tried putting a sheet over their pen so they knew it was time to sleep. That didn't work, they stayed up partying until midnight when I removed the sheet, then they finally settled down. Then I woke up at 3 am to them making noises, I got up to investigate and the other two were laying their nightly eggs (I don't know if anyone else's ducks laid at night when they were young, but all three of mine do

). then they settled back down until 6:30 am, and started to quak at me, I fed them, gave them some more charcoal slurry, and brought them back outside. I went back to bed and got up at 9 am and couldn't find Poppy, I looked in the backyard and found her in this spot under our bamboo plants that I always thought looked like a nest, she was just laying there peeping at me. I don't know if she's laying an egg, or has gone broody on it or what? Should I leave her there or take her out? I just wanted to keep an eye on her, but I can barley see her in there.

Oh, and just as I was walking past their pool, I noticed something rusty sticking out of the ground, pulled it up and it was a piece of wire about 6 inches long, unfortunately most of the stuff in our yard is bits of glass and rusty nails, you would think eventually stuff would stop popping up. I check their feet regularly, prepared to treat cuts and bumblefoot at some point

.


It is fun being able to have my babies in my room, it's a mess now and a little stinky, but I wouldn't have gotten much sleep not knowing how she was doing. I had also forgotten how far they can splatter water.

Here's a picture of them, Poppy's the one in the back.

 

[AmandaVirus]

She came out of the bamboo, and sure enough she laid an egg there. She seems much better now, standing on one leg napping. She seemed pretty restless yesterday, I didn't see her nap at all. I'm still going to continue with the charcoal slurry throughout the day.

 

[AmandaVirus]

I was just cleaning out the pen they were in over night and found a piece of glass in some poop! Do you think she could have passed that? Poor thing, I hope it didn't cause any internal damage if she did. All the poops look normal to me and there's no blood. This makes me want to move them to the front yard where I know there's no glass. My parents would never let me, though.