If you’re raising ducklings you’re likely taking very good care of them and making sure that their health is in order at all times, unfortunately, there are a variety of illnesses that can cause your duckling to die suddenly.
If your ducklings are dying suddenly, and you want to know why, this article will be of help to you.
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Ducklings dying suddenly:
Ducklings suddenly die all the time, there are a variety of reasons why this happens. Here are possible reasons why one, or some, of your ducks died suddenly:
DHV (Duck Hepatitis Virus)
One of the reasons why your ducklings may have suddenly died is because of an infection called duck hepatitis virus.
Duck hepatitis virus is a highly contagious viral infection that can cause illness and death in many types of birds, including ducks, geese, and swans.
The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with infected birds or by ingestion of contaminated water or food. Signs of this disease in your birds include ataxia, lethargy, a loss of balance, falling to their sides, and sudden death.
What to do:
This is a life-threatening condition, if you think that your bird has this condition then you’d need to quickly get your bird to the vet. You need to do this as soon as possible as time is of the essence.
If you can’t immediately get the duck to the vet you’d need to isolate the bird away from the flock. Keep the bird in a comfortable, warm, and safe place. Also, make sure you limit any stress on the bird while in the isolation space.
Waterlogged
It is not a good idea to put ducklings in a pool before they are old enough, ducklings are only able to swim when they are about a week old, but even at a week old, they shouldn’t be swimming as they can become waterlogged.
Water logging describes a situation where the duckling’s feathers get wet, and because of this, the duck dies from being cold, or even drowns.
This condition can develop in ducklings because these young birds can’t yet produce the oil that allows their feathers to repel water. Ducklings can quickly die because of this.
What to do
One way to prevent waterlogging of your ducklings is to make sure they only have access to a water body, that they can play in, a few times a week.
Provide them with a shallow dish or bowl that they can jump in and play in. You want to make sure there isn’t too much water in the dish or bowl and make sure they can easily get out of it.
Also, dry the birds off after they’re done playing.
Excessive Heat
Heat stroke can also cause ducklings to die suddenly. When a duckling’s body temperature gets too high, its behavior starts to change for the worse.
A duckling suffering from heat stroke will hold its wings out as a way to cool itself, the bird will lay on its side, begin to pant, have droopy wings, and stand, or sit, with its eyes closed.
What to do
The best way to keep your ducklings from developing heat stroke is to give them access to plenty of shade, water, cool food (like chilled blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, peas, lettuce, or watermelon).
Also, give them access to a small wading pool where they can take dips throughout the day.
These interventions will help cool the bird’s body off as well as allow them time to get some much-needed exercise.
Exposure to Toxins
The sudden death of your ducklings can be due to exposure to toxins. The most common toxins that are responsible for the sudden death of ducklings include lead-based paints, weed killers, herbicides, insecticides, rat poison, and lawn pesticides.
Exposure to these substances can cause ducklings to become weak, depressed, have an increase in thirst, lose their appetite, regurgitate food, open mouth breathe, and develop diarrhea.
What to do
If you suspect that your ducklings have been poisoned with a chemical or another toxin, contact an animal poison control center immediately.
Be sure to give as much information as possible about what happened and about what your bird may have ingested.
Isolate the bird away from its flock members and make sure that the bird has access to its own food and water while in isolation.
Feeding the bird medicated feed
Medicated feeds are feeds formulated with a medication called amprolium, these feeds are fed to chicks to build immunity against common diseases.
This feed is formulated with chicks in mind, not ducklings. If you choose to feed medicated feeds to your ducklings, especially over an extended period of time, they can die suddenly.
Ducklings eat a lot of feed, (ducklings eat way more than chicks), and this will cause the birds to overdose on the medication in the feed.
What to do
Feeding ducklings medicated feed is not a good idea and should be avoided. It is true that these feeds will help keep chicks healthy, but they can also be harmful to ducklings.
To avoid sudden death in ducklings, as a result of medicated feed, simply feed the ducklings a regular chick starter.
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: Is Duck Poop Good For Grass?, How To Train A Duck To Walk On A Leash, Mother Duck Kills Duckling, Duckling Not Eating Or Drinking,