Dead and weak ducks! Help!

[savingdogs]

I did clean everything really good today and freshened the bedding and cleaned the bowls, everything looked normal....the pond water was a little dirty so I'm going with the theory that the water is what did it. We haven't been flushing it every day like we used to during the summer, we only have a few ducks now and they rarely get in....but they do drink it even though they have other waterers.

I brought Daisy in and let her swim in the bathtub of warm water for awhile. That seemed to perk her up and she enjoyed it. I put her in a dog crate with food and water, all fresh, and I am going to leave her there overnight. I just added a little ACV to her water. She seems comfortable but not moving around much. I sure hope she is still with us in the morning!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

oh geez.. so stressful, huh? but i like the idea of her swimming in the tub.. thats a cute mental pic for me

sending hugs

 

[savingdogs]

Well they swam in there when they were ducklings. She really liked it. Now she is wrapped up in a towel on the floor in a crate, but I think she looks more comfortable and I saw her eating and drinking.

And that is SURE one way to make sure the tub gets scoured completely!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

and here i pictured you in the tub with her!

i mean i didnt PICTURE you.. i mean that would be weird.. i meant i imagined.. i mean.. oh golly this just isnt coming out right.

how about this:

i thought you might be in there with her

';-)

 

[savingdogs]

I was actually hiding behind the shower curtain...she makes big splashes these days. If nothing else, she enjoyed swimming in the warm water. I think she was getting really cold outside where she was laying and bringing her in was a good choice.

 

[Javamama]

I'm so sorry for laughing but that got funny

Gosh I'm sorry you lost one. I'm going to have to do some reading on this botulism stuff now - I'm terrible about cleaning their water bucket now that it's so cold. Mine haven't had a swimming pool since September.

 

[lorihadams]

Yep, I was gonna suggest to clean out everything really well, maybe with some bleach water and then give them some ACV, maybe some yogurt too.

Sorry honey, I hate finding animals dead for (seemingly) no reason.

 

[savingdogs]

Daisy is still alive this morning. I had myself all prepped to find another stiff duck, but she is just looking at me through the cage. She doesn't look any worse and is eating and drinking.

I'm home sick today, horrible vertogo attack this morning so I can't do much at the moment, but later or tomorrow I will work some more on cleaning up their pen. Their isn't any more duck poo than normal, but it is as good excuse as any. We have heavy rain right now so hopefully things will get naturally cleaned while I get over my vertigo.

I found out my husband has been flushing the duck pond every morning, it is just draining faster because it has a hole. So it wasn't really stagnant water as I suspected. So I'm not really sure what happened still. I looked through the bags of food we have, everything looks perfectly fine and the other poultry are eating it without a problem. We are getting new bags though, just in case. We have had a lot of rain, so the feed bowls that were empty had filled up with water. I had my son turn all those over so they don't collect water again that might be questionable.

It is okay to laugh, Java, OFG was trying to cheer me up I think. While I'm sad about my duck and worried, I wasn't particularly attached to this one. The one in the bathroom is the favorite! If she dies we will shed a few tears, she has always been the friendly duck.

 

[ksalvagno]

Maybe post over on BYC in the duck section and see if someone can give you some clues on where the botulism comes from. My friend found out it was their pond that was the problem but they have a large pond on their property. My friend had told me that swans were very susceptible to botulism but I'm not sure about other waterfowl. What you described sounded just like what my friend went through. She had her birds tested and botulism was the cause of death.

Hopefully you caught Daisy in time and she will do just fine.

 

[savingdogs]

Well that is the theory I'm going with because I just can't see that it could be anything else. This feed was fresh and good and nothing else has changed really except the pond having a hole. I am thinking of draining it and just giving them a water bowl for the duration of the winter since it is hard to keep it full of clean fresh water (sounds strange in a land of constant rain, but remember, I live on a steep hill).

I'm also thinking our pond needs to be moved. I think the poo from the high side washes down into the water whenever it rains. We actually have the materials for a new liner already, a long slender one, so I'll have him make the new pond begin at the fence so they can't stand and poop constantly on the bank on the higher side.

I'm also wondering about adding bleach to the water in small amounts on a regular basis. I'm just wondering as to the ratio, anyone have an idea? I have a hard time estimating how much water is actually in our pond....I'd like to make it less than 1-30 ratio but not sure how to measure the amount of water in a free form pond. But it is about ten by five and two feet deep.

I was thinking possibly adding ACV to it would be safer but not sure if that would kill whatever bad bugs I might have.

I was also thinking about just filling the dang thing in with dirt for the time being and to say to heck with it for the time being.....