Worried about my ducks health. Please help

[casportpony]

He is displayimg duck happiness!!! Dunking his head in the water to have it go down his back....we all konw that fun

I put minnows from our pond in his pool and he is loving it. it's the little victories! Hopefully it keeps going that way over whelmed with happiness right now.

That's good news!

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

 

[duckitup]

Update- Second feeding went great last night. He ate at least 10 cc's. We kind of have our routine down now. He also ate 18 minnows in his pool! and gained 22.5 grams (.94 lbs)!!!!! He walked over to his pool this AM and was really interested in his minnows again. I didn't let him get in because I needed to clean it out and I promised the morning surviving minnows that they would go back the real pond So now pond is clean and has a batch of new minnows. Food is soaking getting ready for first feeding.

I'm feeling really good about his weight gain but does anyone know if it's possible for him to gain too much weight too quickly? At the vet he weighed 1311 grams (2 lbs). Now he is 1333.5 grams (2.94 lbs). I have a digital scale and I think it is accurate. If it is that means he gained half of his body weight in 1 day.

And thanks Kathy for all of your support and advice. I think the syringe feeding is going to work especially with the supplemental minnows but if anything changes I may need to pick your brain on crop feeding.

 

[casportpony]

I think maybe an error was made converting grams to pounds

1311 grams = 2.8842 pounds
1333.5 grams = 2.9337 pounds

So he gained a little under 2% of his weight.

There is something called refeeding syndrome, but I'm sure your vet has though about that and that your feeding instructions will avoid that.

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

May I butt in? I recall a kilogram - 1,000 grams - is 2.2 pounds, yes? So post 34 makes sense.

 

[casportpony]

May I butt in?  I recall a kilogram - 1,000 grams -  is 2.2 pounds, yes?  So post 34 makes sense.

Correct... This is how I convert grams to to pounds:
1500 grams = 1.5kg, so multiply 1.5 by 2.2 and the answer is 3.3 pounds.

For me I have found it easiest to forget about pounds and just stick with grams and kilograms when it comes to weighing birds.

-Kathy

 

[duckitup]

The scale I have is like a deli style scale. It only calculates in pounds so I tried to convert it, and I did that horribly. I never claimed to be a math wiz, hehe. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Maybe I can go buy a gram scale somewhere to make this easier. The converter I used said 1000 grams = 2 lbs. I found it online so maybe it isn't accurate.

Kathy, do you know how much they are supposed to gain in a day? I haven't been able to find anything definitive and my vet just says it depends on the duck. If he did gain just under 2%, is that adequate? (it was really only half a day of feeding though, he will get twice as much today).

Thanks!

 

[casportpony]

The scale I have is like a deli style scale. It only calculates in pounds so I tried to convert it, and I did that horribly. I never claimed to be a math wiz, hehe. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Maybe I can go buy a gram scale somewhere to make this easier. The converter I used said 1000 grams = 2 lbs. I found it online so maybe it isn't accurate.

Kathy, do you know how much they are supposed to gain in a day? I haven't been able to find anything definitive and my vet just says it depends on the duck. If he did gain just under 2%, is that adequate? (it was really only half a day of feeding though, he will get twice as much today).

Thanks!

If you need to convert pounds to grams you can just let google do it for you. For example, type 1 pound 4 ounces (1.25 pounds) to grams and let the computer do all the work, that's how I often do it.

As for daily gains, your vet is right, it does depend on the bird. The amount I shoot for is about 5%. I have also found it helpful to weigh at approximetly at the same time every moring before feeding.

I have one that's a little thin and feeling off, so have him inside right now for treatment. His weight yesterday was 611 grams and today it's 629 grams.

-Kathy

 

[duckitup]

Update-

I bought a new scale today that calculates grams and lbs. Tomorrow I will use it for the first time.

This am he weighed 3 lbs, (per google 1360 grams) which would be a .06 lb/27 gram gain. (If my math is right) This am's feeding went poorly. He is getting much more feisty and harder to manipulate. I only got about 3 or 4 cc's into him. However, so far throughout the day (it is 7 pm here) he has eaten 71 minnows, a hand full of dried meal worms, and has begun to eat his duck grower pellets a little. I'm not planning on syringe feeding him anymore unless he stops eating all together or doesn't keep gaining.

Talked to the vet today about worms and I will be bringing in a poo sample when I can get one.

He seems stronger today but he still isn't really taking an initiative to walk around on his own. I pick him up to stand in front of his water bowl (which now has the minnows in it), and I carry him to his pool. He gets out of the pool himself when he is ready. He preened himself today more vigorously and is less wobbly. We went outside yesterday while I tended the garden and he tried to head to his old real pond, it was so sad. But then he was content just watching me, drinking his water and hanging out. We haven't gone outside today because the weather was a bit cold and windy.

 

[casportpony]

So happy to hear he's feeling better!

-Kathy