Why is my duck panting

[danielduckwolf]

So my oldest child a 4 week old pekin is breathing with his mouth open he has water to dunk his whole face in and its not too hot. i keep my house at 69 Fahrenheit and i turned the heat lamp off to see if he needed to cool down. the other duck isnt doing it but he is and idk why. please help.

 

[THEChIcKeNwhisperer354]

@DucksAreBest

 

[danielduckwolf]

@DucksAreBest

That doesnt answer my question at all but cool?

 

[DucksAreBest]

So my oldest child a 4 week old pekin is breathing with his mouth open he has water to dunk his whole face in and its not too hot. i keep my house at 69 Fahrenheit and i turned the heat lamp off to see if he needed to cool down. the other duck isnt doing it but he is and idk why. please help.

Could you post a video of him doing it? Does he breath with quick short breaths?

 

[DucksAreBest]

@DucksAreBest

Thank you for the tag, @THEChIcKeNwhisperer354.

 

[danielduckwolf]

Could you post a video of him doing it? Does he breath with quick short breaths?

i have a laptop so videos arnt possible but they are normal breaths just a tiny bit faster and mouth open

 

[DucksAreBest]

i have a laptop so videos arnt possible but they are normal breaths just a tiny bit faster and mouth open

It's overheating. Large duck breeds, especially Pekins, can get overheated by their own body heat. Try adding a fan to cool them down or let it outside for a few minutes.

 

[duckduckgoose13]

So my oldest child a 4 week old pekin is breathing with his mouth open he has water to dunk his whole face in and its not too hot. i keep my house at 69 Fahrenheit and i turned the heat lamp off to see if he needed to cool down. the other duck isnt doing it but he is and idk why. please help.

I had the same exact issue with my Pekin at the same time. I had one that was panting all the time and then one that was fine. I thought it was the heat lamp so I turned it off but she still continued to pant and then I held her and her feet were on fire so I put her in a cool bath (not too cold but not too hot either) also make sure to clean out their area quite a lot to prevent any mold growing or try to keep it as dry as possible because they can get very sick and can cause breathing issues.

 

[LT71689]

pekins are designed to grow fast and big, panting is normal if there's nothing else wrong with their environment and the rest of their behaviour is normal (eating, drinking, up and moving, etc, pen is clean and dry and they have the ability to get away from their heat lamp - try just aiming it to one corner so they can choose) The bigger of my two panted a lot in the first few weeks, but would purposefully put itself under the heat lamp and huddle up with the other one. I freaked out and thought the worst but they turned out fine. The bigger one continued to pant a bit especially during couch cuddle time, but she still wanted to do it so I just let her.