Hello everyone
Sorry if this topic has already been covered, I have tried searching but can't find anything.
I have 5 ducks all nearly 2 years old. Three days ago one of them started to struggle walking and I thought she might have been eggbound (having experienced that with one of the others last year), so I had a quick look and she did have an egg and with a little encouragement she did lay it, soft shelled and unbroken. In hindsight, I don't think she was ready to lay it as it was 5pm and they normally lay in the morning.
She was still unable to walk but did drag herself around, trying to stand but then her legs just seemed to crumple and she would fall forward, before sitting right back on them. She is still eating, drinking and cleaning herself. Her feathers have gone very 'wispy' but they did this last year and in spring she grew new feathers and was ok again.
The corner of my garden flooded this year and all the ducks spent a lot of time digging & billing in the mucky water but this particular one was there all day everyday and seemed to be eating the soil - I guess it was full of little bugs. At this point in time, the weather was good and as the water dropped it turned very smelly/stagnant so I fenced the area off.
On Tuesday morning, she was shivering when I opened the duck house door, so last night I brought her inside my house. This morning she seemed bright, not shivering and she was drinking happily but still could not stand.
The ducks are fed corn and have free-range of the garden (about 3/4 acre) where they have a good diet of worms, woodlice, flys and other garden bugs together with the grass. I also give them lettuce, chard & spinach from time to time. There is a bowl of oyster shell next to their feeder. They have an inground pond which I clean weekly in winter and refill with well water (which has been passed as potable). They have a bed of straw and in winter I put a layer of newspaper underneath to help absorb the liquid.
The other 4 ducks are all still very healthy and feeding, swimming, sleeping, cleaning as normal.
I live fairly close to a river and at this time of year some of the wild mallards spend a lot of time in my garden using the pond and eating the corn. The island they usually live on is a lot smaller as the river is high so I guess they like the extra space.
Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong with Rosie, and what I can do? I live in rural SW France where the vets think ducks are for eating so a visit to one is not a good idea.
Thank you for taking time to read my post.
Karen
Sorry if this topic has already been covered, I have tried searching but can't find anything.
I have 5 ducks all nearly 2 years old. Three days ago one of them started to struggle walking and I thought she might have been eggbound (having experienced that with one of the others last year), so I had a quick look and she did have an egg and with a little encouragement she did lay it, soft shelled and unbroken. In hindsight, I don't think she was ready to lay it as it was 5pm and they normally lay in the morning.
She was still unable to walk but did drag herself around, trying to stand but then her legs just seemed to crumple and she would fall forward, before sitting right back on them. She is still eating, drinking and cleaning herself. Her feathers have gone very 'wispy' but they did this last year and in spring she grew new feathers and was ok again.
The corner of my garden flooded this year and all the ducks spent a lot of time digging & billing in the mucky water but this particular one was there all day everyday and seemed to be eating the soil - I guess it was full of little bugs. At this point in time, the weather was good and as the water dropped it turned very smelly/stagnant so I fenced the area off.
On Tuesday morning, she was shivering when I opened the duck house door, so last night I brought her inside my house. This morning she seemed bright, not shivering and she was drinking happily but still could not stand.
The ducks are fed corn and have free-range of the garden (about 3/4 acre) where they have a good diet of worms, woodlice, flys and other garden bugs together with the grass. I also give them lettuce, chard & spinach from time to time. There is a bowl of oyster shell next to their feeder. They have an inground pond which I clean weekly in winter and refill with well water (which has been passed as potable). They have a bed of straw and in winter I put a layer of newspaper underneath to help absorb the liquid.
The other 4 ducks are all still very healthy and feeding, swimming, sleeping, cleaning as normal.
I live fairly close to a river and at this time of year some of the wild mallards spend a lot of time in my garden using the pond and eating the corn. The island they usually live on is a lot smaller as the river is high so I guess they like the extra space.
Does anybody have any idea what might be wrong with Rosie, and what I can do? I live in rural SW France where the vets think ducks are for eating so a visit to one is not a good idea.
Thank you for taking time to read my post.
Karen
