Will Sunny ever be able to quack again? She can't make a noise...

[Pet Duck Boy]

Mood-wise Sunny is back to normal, she's now stuffing herself with food. She's attacking squirrels that get to close. She dabbles in every little mud-puddle. And she's back to wandering around my backyard. She seems like herself again. But there's just one little problem....SHE CAN'T MAKE A SIGNLE SOUND! It puzzles me, when she started laying eggs a week and a half ago...she didn't talk much. But one day she stoped making any noise at all, no more happy cooing...nothing. I thought it was because she was sick, and she was. She wouldn't eat and was very lethargic. But now that she's better, she still can't make a noise. She swallows fine, no head shaking or coughing/sneezing. Her breathing is just fine now. But whenever she tries to make her soft chirps, all that comes out are little huffs. Teeny tiny puffs of air, in the same rhythom she did her cooing. I really miss her sweet little voice, but as long as she's ok....I guess I can live without it. I've also checked her neck, felt for any lumps, nothing. I gave her a steam bath, but it did nothing but make my tub smell like duck poo. Any ideas?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Anyone?

 

[rainplace]

oops, I didn't see this one.

I don't know the answer to your question. Sorry.

I am glad to hear she's feeling better though!

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Last October one of my drakes was sick. He was loosing weight and when I held him I could hear crackly noises in his wind pipe and his voice was messed up. I gave him special foods and he started to gain some weight back but clearly I could still hear fluid in his respiratory tract and his voice was shot. After maybe a week and a half I broke down and took him up to the vet school. They said he had a respiratory infection and prescribed antibiotics. His respiratory symptoms cleared up but his voice was never the same again. Now it's kind of like someone scraping a hollow tube, if you can imagine, very different than any other drake I've heard. Dakes and ducks sound so different that I wonder if they even have the same vocal anatomy, but either way I guess a respiratory infection can damage their voices.
Maybe Sunny will get her voice back eventually, I don't know. She's a pekin right? When you talk about her cooing it makes me think of a muscovy. I would imagine really missing it if my duck cooed and then stopped, but a lot of people would like their hens not to be able to quack.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Yes she's a pekin, I've wondered is she is a cross at times. The pond I got her from has 7 pekins, 2 rouens, and 2 muscovy drakes that have now passed. She is pretty small for a pekin, and not as chunky. But she's still all white, but maybe she is part scovy? She always did a lot of cooing, only the occasional quack quack, I really miss her voice. The only noise she can make is a crackly grunt.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

You got her off a pond???
I guess it is possible for her to be a scovy cross with that cooing, also the way she is so friendly, most mallard derived ducks aren't very friendly. But both scovies and pekins are large ducks, so why would she be smaller than both? Call ducks are really small and friendly . . . oh well who knows? Do you have video with her voice on it?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

I took a couple eggs from a nest there, her mother was a pekin...which I know aren't pretty good broodys...so I took 4 eggs, not all of them. I checked the nest back often and eventually the mother eventually gave up I guess, typical pekin.

Maybe it's chirping...I've never really heard a muscovy coo before so I can only guess.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Oh, and she's not small....maybe 6 pounds at the most? She's just not very chunky....

 

[rainplace]

She is SO beautiful!

If what had been wrong with her was the gapeworm and she had it long enough, it's possible that there is some scarring, which may be why she can't talk real loud.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I think she is probably not a cross, she is a sweetie tho!
Did you have an incubator to hatch her out with?