Sick Duck - Possible Hypothermia

[My15Ducks]

Hi everyone, I haven’t posted in awhile but my young duck Speck is in trouble.

It rained all night and this morning I found her sitting still and soaking wet. I brought her in the house and she’s now under a heat plate, wrapped in a towel. She can’t really stand and is very lethargic. It’s been a few hours and she’s slightly perkier, and drank one sip of water with molasses. I thought that if it was hypothermia, she would have recovered faster when she warmed up.

Yesterday morning she was happily playing in her pool, and in the evening she was running around with her friends just fine.

For a little background info, Speck has been disabled since she hatched and has poor eyesight, and bad quality feathers - probably why she got cold and wet easier. She normally acts healthy though. It was probably around 60 degrees last night.

I will keep offering her warm water. Right now she doesn’t want to eat.
Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

 

[ruthhope]

Does speck live out in the open? Or did she get wet before going into a coop? Does she sleep cuddled up to other ducks? 60F shouldn't be cold enough to cause hypothermia .

Ivthink keeping her warm in the house and encouraging her to drink is the right care for her

 

[My15Ducks]

Does speck live out in the open? Or did she get wet before going into a coop? Does she sleep cuddled up to other ducks? 60F shouldn't be cold enough to cause hypothermia .

Ivthink keeping her warm in the house and encouraging her to drink is the right care for her

She has a shelter in her pen, but she wasn’t in it when I found her and she was soaking wet. She was just huddled under a grass clump. She lives with her 5 “friends”. I haven’t seen them cuddle with her. I think because she is slower and doesn’t act quite right that they don’t care about her as much

She will now drink one sip of water every time I hold the dish up to her bill.

I know it’s a bit warm for hypothermia- but since it’s her first “Winter” she has never experienced such cold weather before. I live in Hawaii.

 

[CoriM]

Is there a way you can lock the ducks into a covered sheltered area for sleeping when it's dark?

 

[My15Ducks]

Is there a way you can lock the ducks into a covered sheltered area for sleeping when it's dark?

Not with the current set up, but if I alter their house I could. I’m probably going to have to do that if she pulls through

 

[CoriM]

Yeah, it would be nice to have them somewhere completely safe and dry during the nighttime hours. I hope she pulls through!

 

[My15Ducks]

She just died I don’t know why. I checked on her and gave her a drink and she seemed perkier and happy to drink. She was warm and relaxed and I was petting her and I thought she was doing better. Then I picked her up just to examine her and she briefly thrashed, flapped her wings, and died. It was very fast. I don’t know if I stressed her out by picking her up and that triggered a seizure, or what. I can’t believe she was just playing in her kiddie pool yesterday and acting totally normal.

She was such a strange little duck, but very brave and smart in her own way. When she was a duckling she was so tiny and frail I thought she wouldn’t live long. I’m glad she got to have a life but wish it could have been longer. She was 8 months old. Her favorite things to do were swim and eat, especially peas

Here are her baby pictures

 

[CoriM]

Aww, so sad. I'm sorry! It's so hard to lose one . You loved her and showed her a good life.