Why is my duckling inactive and unstable? Is she sick, sad, or unwell?

The swelling may be due to trauma, infection, a bite or sting, tumor or allergic reaction. Ideally, Susie should be physically examined by your veterinarian or a vet experienced in treating domestic fowl. She may need antibiotics, pain medication, antihistamines or even lancing. Any treatment will depend on her diagnosis.For now, keep her warm and as stress free as possible until she sees the vet. Make sure she is able to eat and drink as well, even if you have to syringe feed her water and food.

It is likely to be due to a respiratory tract infection like viral rinotracheitis (herpes virus), or more commonly duck virus hepatitis. Duck virus hepatitis is a highly fatal contagious disease of young ducklings, 1-28 days of age. Ducklings are most susceptible at the younger ages and gradually become more resistant as they grow older. The disease is rarely seen in ducklings over 4 weeks of age. To prevent this disease, keep age groups isolated and vaccinate breeder ducks with an attenuated live virus duck hepatitis vaccine (to produce maternally immune ducklings). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Without knowing what caused the deaths of the rest of your flock it would be hard to recommend treatment. It sounds as if some sort of contagious issue such as bacterial infection, virus, etc may be causing the problem. It would be best to bring your drake into a local vet clinic ASAP so he can be examined to determine the cause of the illness. If you have any other birds remaining in your flock, separating out and quarantining sick birds from the healthy ones, and thoroughly cleaning all shared food, water, bedding areas may help reduce further spread.

Ducks should be fed more than just corn as feeding only one type of food can lead to nutritional imbalance and diseases with symptoms similar to what you are seeing. Ducks and chickens can be housed together, however they do have differing needs and males of one species may harm or harass the other which could lead to injury and illness. It would be best to have separate housing for each species as well as feed a balanced diet tailored to each as their nutritional needs can vary some. If you have a duck that is acting ill it is best to seek the care of a veterinarian near you as well as keep the duck away from the rest of your flock to avoid spread of illness as well as picking on the sick duck by any flock members.

Thanks for reaching out about Vita. Have any diagnostic testing been performed (radiographs, comprehensive blood work)? Other support avenues need to be investigated such as anti-inflammatories, treatments for toxins, Marek's disease and more. Good luck.

If the duckling is wild it would be best to seek out the help of a local wildlife refuge or rehab center that can safely treat and raise the baby until it is ready to go back out into the wild. Runny eyes and sneezing can be a sign of infection or respiratory illness, so keeping the baby warm, and eating and drinking may help until you can transfer it somewhere for care.

Poor Lizzy! It would be best to remove her from the flock and thoroughly clean the foot and leg (as ducks love to get mud on their feet!) so you can check it for any visible injuries and wounds. If there are any wounds, keeping it clean and dry and using something such as Blu-kote can help while it heals. If you can't find any wounds, see swelling, or the foot looks badly infected, it would be best to have it checked out by a vet in person. Keeping Lizzy separate from the flock until she is healed can help prevent the rest of the birds from picking on her. Keeping her confined with easy access to food and water while you treat the foot can also help reduce any further irritation to it while it heals. However, if it isn't improving or seems broken/badly injured, vet care is needed.