Winstons story

Chickenaddict

Songster
11 Years
May 19, 2008
3,691
111
223
East Bethel MN
August 30th I spoke with a friend of mine who raises calls, she had one lone duckling left out of 3 who had a sinus infection. The other 2 ducklings didn't make it. The first duckling of hers that was ill she had gotten from a dog/cat rescue place and had even taken the duckling to the vet, but by the time she even got him it was 2 late and he had pneumonia, despite her efforts he couldn't be saved. ANother died the day before I received winston. She asked me if I'd take the lone duckling because she had her hands full and no other ducklings his size to put him with. At this time neither of us knew he was sick too. I went to pick him up that evening and noticed the left side of his face was pretty swollen, she had some leftover baytril from the other duckling she had treated and gave it to me the next day. We guess he hatched about the middle of july. When he got here I weighed him and he weighed in at 5.7 oz. To me that seemed very small for a duckling over a month old at the time. I mixed up some warm vetrx in a bowl of water for him and supplied him with a 40 watt bulb to help aid in the healing process. From what I had read on here and other places once the sinus infection gets into the air sac its a lost cause, I wasn't willing to accept that and clearly winston wasn't ready to give up the fight. And so it began.... I woke up in the morning and gave him fresh vetrx treated warm water in a clean bowl with fresh chick starter, I'd stuff him in my fleece robe to keep warm while I gave him his meds, he loved that robe! I cleaned out his quarentine pen daily to make sure everything was dry and sanitized for him. At night he would nestle up under my chin as he struggled to breathe, I would gently run my finger down his back to help him relax. By 9-1 the swelling hadn't gone down much and he was still really congested but had gained over an oz already so I knew we were on the right road. Each day he would gain more strength and more of a healthy appetite, with that comes alot of poo too. I would make a shallow bath in the tub for him with warm water so he could flush his sinuses on a daily basis and after that he got a nice warm blowdry and dabs of vetrx on his back and under each wing. Apparently it paid off because this past tuesday the swelling was almost gone and by wednesday evening was gone completely. By thursday this week he was done with his meds and the congestion was gone as well as the swelling and he weighed in at over 10 oz! He is now 100% recovered and such a happy boy! Here are some before and after pics of his miraculous recovery.


This is the day after I brought him home, as u can see his cheek is very swollen at that point and he could hardly breathe.
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Here he is a day later after a nice warm bath and blowdry, he crawled right into his favorite place... My robe
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Here he is yesterday in a penned area in the back yard enjoying the 90 degree temps under the elm tree.
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As u can sort of see in the last pic the swelling is gone, he is breathing normally and sooooo happy to be outside! The moral of this story is don't always believe what you read about these sinus infections, try your hardest if time allows and it might just pay off for both you and the duck!
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What a wonderful story, you are awesome for sticking with him and getting him through this, and he is adorable, what a precious pay off.
 
So lucky he got the treatment he needed early. You are right about infection in the sinus- it can be fatal, mainly just because most people dont have the time or money to spend on a single duckling. Winston is so lucky to have you, well done on saving the life of this precious little one.
 
That is wonderful! What a lovely story. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for being such a good mom to Winston. He is just sooooo cute. Love to see pics as he grows up.
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Just a few updates on "winston" He is/was a she so we renamed her winnie. Winnie had matured and grown quite quickly once she was healthy again. She moved from quarentine in the garage to a dog kennel in the house. Every morning she would see the chickens run out into the yard for the day and she wanted so badly to go out with them so I started letting her out. Every morning i'd open the crate door and the patio door and she would run right to them. After a few weeks she was out in the coop with them. She really enjoyed them but they weren't like her and she sort of got lonesome for a swimming buddy so I bought a black call drake from a friend of mine, very gentle mellow guy. He was sweet on winnie as soon as he set eyes on her. They became inseperable. He was the perfect gentleman and always let winnie get in the pool first and waited for her to tell him it was ok for him to join her. It was sooo cute to see them outside together getting along soooo well. It had been getting cold here lately so I had to dump the pool for the season. Boy they were not happy with that at all. The first morning they flew out the coop door and outside to find their pool upside down, she ran to it, jumped on top and stomped her feet on it as if she was throwing a fit. I have to admit it was quite comical. All isn't lost tho, they have a water pan they can swim/eat from inside the heated coop but that wasn't as good as their pool I guess. Things were fantastic until earlier today. I am in the house cleaning/cooking thanksgiving dinner for my family and had gone out to the garage to get something. It was going to be about 60 degrees today so I had let the flock out to graze in the yard being we were home to keep an eye on things. In the few minutes it took me to get back in the house the neighbor had called to tell us there were a pair of large hawks in the woods behind the coop. He asked us to get out there like NOW because one of the birds was hurt and crying. My other half ran outside to see the damage and found winnie behind the fence with a huge hole in her back. She was still alive but barely and was in shock bigtime. He had to put her down immediately then chased the hawks off and rounded up the flock to lock them in the run while we scrambled all over the backyard looking for more injured birds. Fortunately there were no other injured birds, dear sweet winnie was the only casualty
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And now here I am with one lonely scared drake. According to the neighbor who witnessed the event said the hawks started out up by the house, the coop is way at the back of the property. They split up and one headed for the back by the coop. Behind the coop is a large wooded forest area just crawling with wildlife so we know it is a risk letting the birds roam the fenced in backyard. The other hawk remained up near the house targeting emeril and a few of my banties who were hiding in a dog house inside the run on our patio. The hawk that was out back got winnie and after he dug in his buddy flew back to join him. I guess I won't be letting them out in the back for awhile. And here we hadn't had a predator loss all year until today
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This is the most recent pic I have of her all grown up. R.I.P my lil winnie poo Im gonna miss you so much!

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