Throwing up in humans is usually a bad sign, ducks throwing up is usually a bad sign as well but it can happen and it does happen on occasion.
If your duck is suddenly throwing up water, this article will help you figure out why this is happening and what to do about it.
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Why is my duck throwing up water?
If your bird is throwing up water then this likely has something to do with the bird drinking too much water, ducks can drink too much water in these two scenarios:
Ducklings drinking too much water:
Little ducklings are still learning how to be ducks, and a duckling that is still learning how to be a duck is still learning how to drink water and how to drink enough water.
Birds don’t drink the same way that humans drink, these animals drink by dipping their bills or beaks into water and throwing their heads back allowing the water to run down their throats, and then swallowing.
Baby birds sometimes overestimate how much water they can drink and take in too much water when drinking.
If a bird tries to scoop up and drink too much water, and all the water that the bird drinks doesn’t go down its throat, then the water can come out of the bids mouth making the bird look as though it is throwing up the water when the water is simply flowing out of the bird’s mouth.
What to do:
If your young duckling doesn’t know how much water to drink then you don’t have to be worried, the bird will soon learn how to drink enough water by watching the older ducks drink water.
Keep an eye on this bird over the days and weeks to make sure that it starts to drink water as normal.
The birds are scared:
Ducks can act very strangely when they are scared, if you keep an eye on what your ducks do when they get scared or startled then you may notice that the birds run over to their waterers quite quickly when they are scared, the bird will drink too much water too fast once they get to these waterers.
If this happens then the birds may spill the excess water from their mouths and this may be what you are seeing when the bird throws up water.
The same mechanism of too much water being taken into the bird’s beak, and this water running out of the bird’s beak, described in the duckling example, can happen to adult ducks and may be happening to your bird
What to do:
If the bird becomes scared then there is likely something new in the bird’s environment that is scaring it. Examine the bird’s environment to see if there is anything new in the environment that may have scared the bird.
A lot of things can scare a bird, wild animals aren’t the only thing that will scare ducks, even your domestic dog or cat can scare these birds.
Take away any new things in the environment that may be scaring your bird and see if the bird feels better, and starts to act better.
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: Duckling Vomiting, Duck Manure Vs Chicken Manure, Do Geese Get Cold, Why Do Ducks Like Ice Water?, Does Duck Poop Kill Grass?, Duck Eggs Turning Black, How To Keep Ducks Quiet At Night