Duck panting and over heating

[Nuggetanddaffy]

I have a week and a half old duckling. It seems to always overheat. I don’t like the cold so my house is always set to about 75-76 degrees. When I turn the heat lamp on for even a few minutes he completely overheats and starts panting and breathing with his mouth open. I know I’m not supposed to take my duck off the heat lamp at this age because it’s so young, but if it’s overheating this bad should I just disregard the heat lamp completely since he seems to be comfortable with the temperature in my house? Also does anyone know if this could be some kind of medical issue that causes my duckling to overheat so easily? If so what should I do to help him/her out? I’m open to any and all suggestions as I’m very new to this!!

 

[MS_pond]

I'm not an expert, can't speak on any potential medical issues but I can offer my 2c. Is the heat lamp positioned on just one end of the brooder so that the duckling can choose how close it wants to be? Can you raise the heat lamp up any higher?

 

[Maka]

Hey there! Not a duck expert and It could be a lot of things! BUT I would see if you can raise the heat lamp and Monitor its behavior if it stops panting you should be good to go. If not it could be another underlying issue! Best of luck.

 

[springvalley123]

You could also get a lower wattage bulb. Does the duckling have a flockmate?

 

[Nuggetanddaffy]

You could also get a lower wattage bulb. Does the duckling have a flockmate?

I'm not an expert, can't speak on any potential medical issues but I can offer my 2c. Is the heat lamp positioned on just one end of the brooder so that the duckling can choose how close it wants to be? Can you raise the heat lamp up any higher?

Oh yes. Plenty of room for them (only two ducks) to move away from the heat. Good news is I’ve watched him/ her all night and it seems to have stopped panting

Hey there! Not a duck expert and It could be a lot of things! BUT I would see if you can raise the heat lamp and Monitor its behavior if it stops panting you should be good to go. If not it could be another underlying issue! Best of luck.

good news!! I’ve watched the duckling just about all night and he/she seems to be fine and isn’t panting anymore!! Scared me to death but I’m glad it’s okay now!!

 

[Nuggetanddaffy]

You could also get a lower wattage bulb. Does the duckling have a flockmate?

Yes there is two of them!!

 

[Nuggetanddaffy]

I recently made a post regarding my oldest duckling (a week and a half) who seemed to be panting/ breathing with its mouth open/ overheating. I’m now here for an update and more advice on this duckling. After very closely watching this duckling all night (I get up once every hour to check on it) I have came to the conclusion that i don’t think it’s over heating, it’s nasal passage keeps getting clogged with food. The only problem with this is the duckling only drinks his/her water laying down so I have to manually encourage it to “lift its butt up” and stand up in order to dunk its head under to clear out its nasal passage. Their food has niacin in it (Purina flock raiser no medicated) so I really don’t think it’s a leg issue. It was perfectly fine before it started having this issue. Super energetic duckling. However now it seems like it only wants to lay around all day like it’s sick. It breaks my heart seeing it like this especially since just yesterday he was the “crazy energetic” duckling. Could he have some sort of respiratory issue? A bacterial infection of some sort? I’m open to any suggestions and advice as I truly do not want to lose this duckling (it’s my baby)!!

 

[Maka]

Oh yes. Plenty of room for them (only two ducks) to move away from the heat. Good news is I’ve watched him/ her all night and it seems to have stopped panting

good news!! I’ve watched the duckling just about all night and he/she seems to be fine and isn’t panting anymore!! Scared me to death but I’m glad it’s okay now!!

Yayyyy! I’m so stoked for you and your little duckling.

 

[casportpony]

Can you take a video of the open-mouth breathing?

 

[friednotscrambled]

with ducks and ducklings I put their food FAR from the water so that there is no way they can 'dabble' in the water right after taking a bite of food.

Also - If your house is 70 degrees, the heat lamp may be too much.