The Duck Thread

[Lacrystol]

my day old duckling is dying. I don't know what to do.
She came out of her egg this afternoon. While she was inside but her beak was out I could hear a snapping sound when she took a breath. When she was out she threw up foamy stuff. Just a minute ago she woke up and shook her head, brown stuff came out of her beak.I got qtips and cleaned her up. She's back asleep. She just lays there. The other five are fine. She hasn't eaten, took some water off a dropper but nothing else.

Sorry to hear that almost sounds like she's internally bleeding? How long has she been out?

 

[Lacrystol]

Don't expect them to eat the first day or two. Make sure they get plenty of water. Do you have niacin mixed in the water? Foam? Hum?? Not sure about the foam? If she does it again please send a pic of it. Is she pooping very important to make sure she is, also check for blood in the poop. Poop should be white with maybe green chunky stuff. Sometime just yellow watery or dark green watery. The white is her pee.

 

[tracyjg]

Moved my drake today. One egg broken bad yolk. Raining today.

 

[NathanZee]

Juveniles, about two months old. As the grew it became apparent they were not purebred buffs. They stayed here all winter no problems. They vanished about three days ago. They could fly a little, enough to get off the ground, but I never really saw them actually flying.

Do you have pictures of them? So they couldn't even get high off the ground? Are you sure that a predator didn't get them?

 

[NathanZee]

Today was awesome! I was able to release the duck from her angel wing bindings. It has been 6 days, we had a bad storm last night and we were concerned the vet tape was wet so we removed it. Wonderful!!! The wing looks pretty normal. Way better than the angel wing. Can anyone tell me, will this happen every time she molts and gets new feathers or is this a one time thing.

Thanks!

That's great!!! And no, you don't ever have to worry about it again because now her wings muscles are strong and they will be able to support the weight.

 

[Pyxis]

Do you have pictures of them? So they couldn't even get high off the ground? Are you sure that a predator didn't get them?

100% sure a predator didn't get them. No feathers, no blood, no other smaller easier to get birds taken. They could fly well enough that I saw them clear a four foot fence with at least two feet between them and the fence, but they never really 'flew' flew, if that makes sense. Just a little bit of flying when they got excited. If they could get six feet off the ground though I suppose it's totally possible that they could really fly and just never did.

 

[tracyjg]

water tested. Called a week later

 

[MandyJ]

That's great!!! And no, you don't ever have to worry about it again because now her wings muscles are strong and they will be able to support the weight.

Awesome!!! It was certainly noisy around here with two ("angel wing" and a friend) out of 7 penned up! Thanks for the GREAT news!!

 

[eveebs3]

I recently got these ducklings and the place I got them from didn't know the breed. I'm thinking Anconas or Magpies? How do you tell the difference between those two breeds?

 

[Pyxis]

I recently got these ducklings and the place I got them from didn't know the breed. I'm thinking Anconas or Magpies? How do you tell the difference between those two breeds?

I think you've got magpies. Anconas have random spotting all over and in various places whereas magpies always have the black backs like yours do.