3 out of 4 ducks died suddenly

[Chick-in]

No:/ my thought was possibly botulism from getting into the compost? But they’ve done that before and have been fine

Ducks eat the nastiest stuff. They love poopy water and pond scum. It's unlikely, unless they got into a poo lagoon with chemicals and lots of waste in it, that they'd all just die.

Do you have neighbors near the fence and do they spray anything?

Also oleander is very toxic and if it gets into the yard via wind and into compost that very well can kill any animal.

I can imagine how scary it is not to know what did it because it could possibly happen again.

 

[Lorbetal]

Ducks eat the nastiest stuff. They love poopy water and pond scum. It's unlikely, unless they got into a poo lagoon with chemicals and lots of waste in it, that they'd all just die.

Do you have neighbors near the fence and do they spray anything?

Also oleander is very toxic and if it gets into the yard via wind and into compost that very well can kill any animal.

I can imagine how scary it is not to know what did it because it could possibly happen again.

Yea it’s very frustrating! And sad. Our neighbors don’t spray anything that I know of and our ducks have been out and about in the yard off and on for over 6 months and never had any issues:/ and they don’t wander beyond our yard so not sure what it could be but it was 3 out of the 4 every quickly as they were totally fine yesterday afternoon

 

[Miss Lydia]

Very sorry for your loss.

 

[LydiaB]

Do you have rose chafer beetles? They cut the crop open if eaten and kill ducks. Learned the hard way several years ago. They are yellowing beetles that love roses and anything in that family. If they land on you their feet at incredibly sticky. Awful terrible bugs. It’s that season here in Wisconsin but so far we don’t have many thankfully.

 

[Lorbetal]

Do you have rose chafer beetles? They cut the crop open if eaten and kill ducks. Learned the hard way several years ago. They are yellowing beetles that love roses and anything in that family. If they land on you their feet at incredibly sticky. Awful terrible bugs. It’s that season here in Wisconsin but so far we don’t have many thankfully.

Haven’t seen any around but good to know.

 

[Chick-in]

Do you have rose chafer beetles? They cut the crop open if eaten and kill ducks. Learned the hard way several years ago. They are yellowing beetles that love roses and anything in that family. If they land on you their feet at incredibly sticky. Awful terrible bugs. It’s that season here in Wisconsin but so far we don’t have many thankfully.

I'll be looking those up!

 

[Chick-in]

Oh! We call those Japanese beetles. My birds devour them when I dump the traps out.

 

[KylaG]

Was there any black goop substance inside or on the edge of their bills?

Blister beetle will drop a duck. The insects are a month ahead of schedule in our area.

Sorry about your babies.

Thank you for sharing this. I just suddenly lost one of my black Swedish ducks and there were blister beetles in the run. Will be treating immediately!

 

[Chick-in]

Thank you for sharing this. I just suddenly lost one of my black Swedish ducks and there were blister beetles in the run. Will be treating immediately!

Dish soap 1:4 parts water sprayed on them will kill them quickly.