Healthy ducks have a much higher chance of staying alive and living a long and enjoyable life, unhealthy ducks have a lower chance of living long because of their poor health
Coughing is not a good sign in humans or in ducks, this article explores why your duckling is coughing after eating
Table of Contents
Duckling is coughing after eating:
When humans cough it means that there is something either stuck in our throats or it means that we have a respiratory infection. This is why ducklings cough:
Mash feed:
If a duckling is coughing, this coughing may develop because of the feed that they are eating. If the birds are eating a mash, then the duckling may start to cough.
Mash is designed for chickens and is made by finely crushing grains into a powdery mix, it has the same texture as potting soil and when disturbed some of the mash will enter the air as a fine powder, it is also quite messy when disturbed.
Ducklings, unlike chickens, scoop their food while chickens peck at their food. This scooping can disturb the powdery mash and the mash can clog a duck’s nostrils causing the bird to begin coughing once it starts to eat.
What to do:
If this is what is going on with your ducklings then you should keep your bird away from the powdery mash and rather give the bird pellets to eat. Pellets won’t get into the bird’s nostrils.
Pellets are made from the same finely chopped grains that mash is but the pellets are condensed through heat and compression. This turns the grains into solid pieces that the bird can eat without a powder forming during the eating process.
The ducklings can alternately be given crumble which is just pellets cracked or rolled to form smaller pieces that are easier for the ducklings to eat.
Pellets have the same texture as oatmeal so they won’t turn into a powder and get into the bird’s nose when they eat it.
Switch your bird to pellets or crumble and see how it does, if the bird stops coughing then the bird will be fine and if the bird is not showing any other signs of distress or illness then the bird should be fine.
If the bird continues to cough, or starts to show signs of distress or illness then you would need to take the bird to the vet for an exam and diagnosis.
Lack of water:
The foods that ducklings eat in the wild are usually wet, these birds eat foods close to the waterbodies that they live around and birds have constant access to water if they need it.
The foods that domestic ducklings eat can be quite dry, if the bird is not given water to drink along with the food that it eats then the bird can start to cough after it starts to eat.
What to do:
If you’re not giving the bird water along with its food then you’d need to start to do this and see if the bird’s coughing stops.
As long as the bird is not chronically coughing, and as long as the bird gets better with the water as you give the bird water then the bird should be fine.
If the coughing does not stop, then you may need to take the bird to the vet for diagnosis and treatment.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other duck related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: What Can I Give My Duck For A Cough?, Baby Duck Not Eating Or Drinking, Duckling Is Sneezing, How To Calm A Duck, Why Do Ducks Leave A Pond?