Sick or stressed duckling?

[Crazy Maizie]

Update: Lemon hasn’t vomited in over 5 hours. She still isn’t eating, and she is drinking very little electrolyte water. Her legs are extremely weak and she spreads her wings trying to stand, but can’t stand all the way up and falls back down…

Electrolytes should be used for the first 3 days or so, but not all of the time. It is for times of stress (heat stress, shipping stress, etc). It's like drinking Gatorade everyday. For ducks, if you do provide water with supplements, you must provide a container of fresh water as well. I would suggest giving some nutri-drench or poultry cell to her. A drop in her bill if she's not drinking her water. But, don't squirt a bunch in there as she could aspirate (choke on it).

 

[Crazy Maizie]

We do not free feed the fruit. It is used as a treat, like the grubs.

We are using brewers yeast for the niacin intake.

Yes. By cold, I do mean negative (Celsius) temps.

My mistake, we are actually using hemp straw bedding.

She hasn’t worsened. She is standing a little more steadily after the night of rest that she got. She has pooped (dark green) and we will continue to monitor and try to find a vet locally.

The dark green can be from grass or strawberry tops as duck poop generally resembles what they have eaten. For her though, she should be given only the crumble until she is better - wet it if she isn't eating as much. Sometimes they will eat it wet vs dry. I'd also offer her a little egg yolk - it has vitamins an nutrients that help them when they are feeling unwell. The only thing that is a bit worrisome, is that sometimes when you first introduce them to the outside world, they can come in contact with the cocci in the soil. It could be that she has coccidiosis. When I brood ducklings or chicks, I always start introducing soil from the yard into their brooder to help get them immune to the local cocci. But, if this hasn't been done and this was her first time out, that could be what you're dealing with.
You won't know for sure without a fecal, but it's not going to hurt to treat them.

 

[Magpiesrulex]

Update:

Took Lemon to the vet and there was some swelling in her left leg. No breaks, no fractures, no tendon ruptures… so that’s great news!

Vet is confident that the vomiting and not eating is due to stress. Gave us some anti inflammatory to give to her and will check back on Thursday.

Thank you everyone for your responses, I really appreciate it!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Glad to hear that she is on the mend.