Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi, one of my roeuns just doesnt seem up to par . for the last few days she has been very inactive . she is just sitting around being very lazy. other than looking a wee bit thinner there are no visible signs of sickness. she actually seems depressed. she is a year old and all of our other ducks are full of spunk. she has been laying eggs and we gather them every day. at first i thought maybe she was sad about us taking her eggs but she has never cared before. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. i have read up on many duck illnesses and havent come up with anything. thanks, ilesha

Hi,

It sounds as though your duck may be broody. If she lays anymore eggs then it may pay to leave them with her, or replace them with ceramic/plastic eggs if you don't want any ducklings.
Broody females do normally loose abit of weight, but if this continues then it would be best to take her to a Vet.

I've given you a few websites that have good lists of signs of illness in birds, this may help you abit...

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww14ev.htm
http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/html/illness.html
http://bird.lifetips.com/subcat/10445/avian-health/signs-of-illness/

If your duck starts to make some sort of nest, usually they scpae straw and grass into an oval shape on the ground, then your female may start to incubate any eggs shes laid, and also any eggs laid by other ducks that you may have.
Incubation takes 28 days - give or take a day or two depending on humidity and the overall temperature that the eggs were subject to.
Hope this has helped you abit.

Mel X

hi, thanks for the response. in the last 2 days i have left the eggs laid out for sophie and put them in a nesting box for her. she doesnt really seem to give a wit about them . this morning her eye was a bit crusty. i washed it with a warm wet cloth and her eye is okay. i have called every vet around and they dont see ducks. do you think i should keep going with the eggs and just moniter her? she is only a year old and i feel so badly for her. she is very lethargic.

If your duck hasn't bothered about the eggs then maybe shes not broody. It wouldn't do any harm to leave them with her just incase though. Is this the first time that shes laid any eggs?
It's a shame that the Vet won't have a look at her.
Do you feed her any supplements? Maybe giving her extra Calcium would help, as they need it for the egg-shells.
Is she eating and drinking normally?
At least her eye is better now.

Mel X

hi, thanks again for the response. i have not seen Sophie eat but have seen her drinking small amounts of water. she has been laying eggs on and off since last summer. she still has no interest in the eggs. in fact hers were the eggs that i had incubated and the ducklings pipped but did not survive. she has no interest in going in the water or the strength to get in. i put her i brought her in the house yesterday to put her in the tub to clean her and she fell asleep in the water. if i werent there she would probably have drowned. my 2 other rouens are staying with her and the muscovies are sitting on the eggs. i am at such a loss of what to do for her. last year when she was about 8 weeks old she and another one of the ducks was attacked by im assuming a racoon and she almost died. it took weeks to get her up and going. the other duck did not survive. i cant help but think this may have something to do with it. this morning her eye was all crusted closed again and i washed it out and she is more lethargic today. thank you for your advice . anything else would be more than appreciated. ilesha

AwWw, i'm so sorry that things still ain't going well.
I know its so hard when they go ill and it feels as though theres nothing you can do.
I'm sure that you being with her and keeping her comfortable is a reasurrance to her.
If shes not feeding, you may have to force-feed her.
I've only had to do it once before, and that was on a Herring Gull.

I've found a couple of websites that may help:

http://petcaretips.net/anorexia-bird.html
http://www.safarivet.com/birds.htm
http://www.cagenbird.com/a04.htm

Take Care
Mel X

hi thank you for the links. Sophie seems a little better today. i brought her in yesterday and gave her a warm bath in epsom salts and kept her in for the night i was able to hand feed her small bits of food and she drank plenty of water. she was actually honking away this morning. i took a walk with her through the yard to see if she wanted to go see the other ducks and slowly she did make her way to the pen. i will be keeping a very close eye on her and bring her back in this afternoon once it starts cooling off outside. thank you everyone!!