Whats wrong with my duck???

[bordercollies4]

Please can someone help me?

I keep a small flock of ducks and geese. We have had a brutal winter here in Illinois, but my ducks and geese are kept inside a large chicken coop. By large, I mean, its an actual building...on a foundation, turbine on the roof for ventilation, tilt in windows all closed up for the winter.
On nice days,the back door was slid open allowing them to come and go all day, but closed in at night. On bad days, very cold days, they stayed in all day.Everyone was doing just fine, and I have heated waters out there for them.
My one Rouen female, upon my morning chore arrival, was alone in the corner while the others were waiting at the door to go out. So I walked over and picked her up. She seemed to be unable to stand on her feet, and I noticed her eyes were "squinted". So I brought her indoors into my basement in a large cage. Once she was indoors, where is was consistently warm, her eyes started producing a white foam. So now I had foamy eyes and not being able to walk. I called my horse vet, I called the "general practioner" vet, and although neither felt I needed to bring her in, both suggested she had an upper respiratory infection and told me to put antibiotics in her water. Which I have been doing. Within a few days , she started to improve drastically.She appeared much stronger, was drinking alot of water, has been trying to bathe in the large bowl of water I have in there for her, and has been eating.

However, one eye is still producing foamy stuff a week later. And although she still appears to have trouble walking forward, she stands up tall and strong on her legs. But tonight I noticed something new she is doing....she will drink alot of water, and then it almost looks like she is throwing up.She will shake her head from side to side and long streams of discolored water (yellowish) come flowing out of her bill. This has me very worried....any ideas on what might be going on with her?? I am at a loss as to where to turn with her

 

[wigglewaddle]

Sorry to hear she's unwell I'm unsure about the last part and would seek advice from a poultry-savvy vet in regards to that.

My cayuga had the same problem with her eye and we were given antibiotics to go in her water and also eye drops. Had to use them every day but it cleared up.

Is she still having trouble walking? Check her feet for any sores or lumps. She may have had a trauma - e.g. Walking over a rock or being on concrete floor. If there's any sores you could bathe her feet in water with Epsom salts then keep her off mucky ground to try and keep them clean.

I hope she gets better soon! Horrible when they're ill! I'm no expert, this is just from my own experience.

Good luck!

 

[Pyxis]

That last part is actually not a sickness. My ducks and chickens do it too, and it happens when they drink too much water too fast. It hasn't had time to empty out of their crop and they've filled their crop so full that when they put their head down the excess that's there's no room for runs out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since she has been on antibiotics after she has taken all required I would put her on a probiotic/.vitamin mix in her water for about a week, antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria so she will need something to get the good stomach bacteria going again, you can also by eye antibiotic salve from most feed stores, one is NFZ eye puffer it's for eye and ear infection and another is Erthromycin EYE and Tripe Antibiotic Eye these are 3 that are listed on my med chart from Twin City Poultry. another one I like is Veterycin spray I buy it at TSC very safe to use in the eyes. It just has to be sprayed into the eyes a couple times a day. Hopefully getting her on some good vitamins with a probiotic will get her going again.
Please keep us updated.

 

[bordercollies4]

Thankyou, everyone, for your input. I appreciate it very much.
I am putting an antiobiotic on the eye, I should have mentioned that. It came from the vet.
And yes, I have indeed looked over her feet and legs very closely, there are not sores, no lumps or bumps.
The floor of their building is concrete, but the floor is lined with 3/4" rubber mats and they have straw bedding on top of that, so she comes into contact with no concrete. I had actually thought her feet got frostbite due to our severe cold, but I read somewhere that was not likely. And the color of them has not changed at all.
I appreciate hearing that regurgitating of the fluid is normal, guess I never saw any of my ducks do that before.
Thought she had a new problem going on. She is drinking incredible amounts of water.
I will start a probiotic and see if it helps. Again, thanks so much.....I really like this duck and unfortunately am in an area that doesn't offer much help when it comes to vetting them.