What the heck is this? Sinus infection?

[Pyxis]

sigh...I just have rotten luck with drakes lately. So my favorite boy, Crackers, died as a result of a predator attack, as some of you may know, and I had to get a new drake for the girls. Well, my aunt had one of Crackers' brothers and was overrun with males and needed some gone anyway. Perfect. So I pick him up, and get him home, and look at him, and oh my goodness! One whole side of his head just below his eye is all swelled up. Poor boy also has a running nose and is sneezing. So I went into panic mode, thinking about him like I would think about a chicken with signs like those, terrible life-long respiratory diseases and whatnot. Then I thought a little and realized that he's not a chicken and I don't even know if ducks suffer from things such as that. His discharge doesn't smell bad, his eyes aren't watery or runny at all, and besides the other symptoms he seems peppy and perky. Still, he's on quarantine just in case, even though a couple of my other girls are birds I recently took back from my aunt anyway.

Her other birds looked just fine, chickens, ducks, and geese. It's just this one boy who seems to have a problem. So can anyone tell me what this is? If he's got a contagious disease he's going right back and I'll find a new drake. And if it's not contagious, how do I go about treating it?

 

[Miss Lydia]

sigh...I just have rotten luck with drakes lately. So my favorite boy, Crackers, died as a result of a predator attack, as some of you may know, and I had to get a new drake for the girls. Well, my aunt had one of Crackers' brothers and was overrun with males and needed some gone anyway. Perfect. So I pick him up, and get him home, and look at him, and oh my goodness! One whole side of his head just below his eye is all swelled up. Poor boy also has a running nose and is sneezing. So I went into panic mode, thinking about him like I would think about a chicken with signs like those, terrible life-long respiratory diseases and whatnot. Then I thought a little and realized that he's not a chicken and I don't even know if ducks suffer from things such as that. His discharge doesn't smell bad, his eyes aren't watery or runny at all, and besides the other symptoms he seems peppy and perky. Still, he's on quarantine just in case, even though a couple of my other girls are birds I recently took back from my aunt anyway.

Her other birds looked just fine, chickens, ducks, and geese. It's just this one boy who seems to have a problem. So can anyone tell me what this is? If he's got a contagious disease he's going right back and I'll find a new drake. And if it's not contagious, how do I go about treating it?

Could be sinus infection, put some ACV into his bucket for him to wash his face and head in first off, does you Aunt have buckets for her ducks to dunk their heads into? Sometimes if they can't wash their nares and eyes out this can happen, Keep him in a draft free place but with plenty of ventilation and if you have some poultry vitamins put some into his water one with ACV another with Vitamins. Hopefully it may clear up on it own after having a few days of washing water. if not then you may want to take him to the vet or treat your self with an antibiotic.

 

[Amiga]

I agree with what Miss Lydia said.

Here are my thoughts for you to sift through for ideas.

There are different kinds of infections, different reasons for swelling.

It could be an allergy. My cat has hay fever. When she lived in a barn, she had all kinds of troubles. There may have been something in the environment causing a reaction.

He may not have had access to headwashing water, as Miss Lydia said, and that would compound that problem.

Could be fungal. Moldy hay, moldy anything could be breathed in and cause trouble.

Could be bacterial, in which case antibiotics might be needed.

However, often just cleaning the area, giving fresh clean water frequently, keeping him comfortably warm (not out in 20F weather all the time), other things Miss Lydia recommended can support the drake's immune system which will handle the infection. That goes for both bacterial and fungal infections.

Could be from a recent injury. I've been popped in the face a time or two, and that can cause swelling and a runny nose.

Watch him closely. If he needs oral antibiotics I would not want to wait too too long, and it's not good to overuse them, either.

 

[Pyxis]

He came from a place with a pond and a running stream, so he was able to wash his face off. He did live with alpacas, so the moldy hay could be it. I'll pick up some ACV tomorrow and see if that helps any. I'm debating dosing him with tetracycline but I may hold off since he's acting fine besides the swelling. Catching him at my aunt's was no picnic.

 

[yo burrill]

My thought is that where you had to chase him to catch him he probably banged his face in the scuffle. Long as the discharge is clearish and thin that is probably the case. If it turns green or yellow and thickens. It is probably an infection of some sort.

 

[Pyxis]

My thought is that where you had to chase him to catch him he probably banged his face in the scuffle. Long as the discharge is clearish and thin that is probably the case. If it turns green or yellow and thickens. It is probably an infection of some sort.

I wish this was the case, but when I caught him he already had build up on his bill - his nose had already been running for some time. I'm really thinking it's a sinus infection - and I'm hoping my vet will give me stuff to treat it without demanding I drag him in. I have no desire to spend $40 to have them look at him for two seconds.

 

[Marwan]

I agree with everyone else. I would personally suggest a few days in a very clean cage with plenty of water to bathe in and wash his face in.. outside of the cage otherwise it defeats the puropse of a clean cage XD if no improvement you can consider it being a greater form of infection and if you see no improvement in the next week or if there are any signs of it getting worst i belive a vet and some anitbiotics would be in order.

 

[ducksinarow]

You can get a bag of tetracycle at Rural King. It tells how much to add in a few gallons of water for poultry. It cost about $5.

 

[Pyxis]

Just a quick update. He went to the vet, and it was indeed a sinus infection. He's on Baytril, as I suspected he would need to be, and soon he'll be well. Which is good, since the girls are eyeing up their handsome new drake through the fences and it seems they like what they see. Can't wait till he's through his meds so they can all be together.

 

[Amiga]