[melholly]

...well...after months of thinking I was starting to get the hang of keeping some ducks, sheep etc my confidence (being an ex City girl) has taken a knock. I bought 2 Khaki Campbells - females, youngsters (point of lay) on Saturday at a Show. They seemed to settle beautifully and apart from the odd neck peck from my Runners, an order had been established.

I go to my pond today and one of my newbies is dead, all other ducks SILENT (but living) Area is fox proofed with wire, electric fence etc. No sign of any tearing, bite marks, heron pecks etc..just a dead duck. I can't help but feel I've done something terribly wrong as I was advised to worm all my ducks as one was showing signs of a parasite. So have used flubenvet - I couldn't see it was ok for ducks on it but a few people told me I was being silly and it was absolutely fine. Now I feel really bad... :-(

Also it happened last night which was the newbies one and only night of being left outdoors (I was up town all day yesterday and didn't get back till late) My Runners have always enjoyed this more than being bribed to go into their house, the house is always open, fresh straw, nice water etc...

Does anyone more experienced / knowledgable than me have any clues as to what happened to my poor Betty??

Mx

[Hopewell]

Sorry to hear about Betty. Difficult to know why but I can't see that the wormer had anything to do with it.

[Beewyched]

So sad about Betty, can't see this being down to worming or anything else you may have done.  Stop feeling so guilty - just one of those things, it's harder to accept & undertsand when they've seemed so fit & healthy.  What a shame 

[Sylvia]

Poultry, like sheep, usually die suddenly. They are masters at hiding their symptoms and the first you know of a sick duck/chicken/sheep is when you find them dead So, unless you are gifted with second sight you can't blame yourself.

[melholly]

Thanks guys,

Since my first post have contacted a local breeder who I keep in touch with and got my Runners from. He told me the people I got my Campbells from at the show have a really bad reputation (they run a llama/reindeer park thing too) and that he himself had bought stock from him that had died before it had even reached his home. So, waiting to see now if poor 'Belle' succumbs. Thankfully it's unlikely to be contagious so Abigail, Amelia and Waldo (sorry I have a 3 year old who names these!) should be ok.

...a small positive is that the guy I spoke to is letting me have 2 of his Khaki Campbells I'm picking them up tomorrow so Betty will be replaced having 'returned from holiday with a new friend to stay!'

Thanks everyone for reassuring me!
Mx

[jaykay]

Glad you're getting some new ducks 

You did the right thing to worm them and flubenvet has been used in ducks with no problems. You may have heard old farmers say 'if you've got livestock, you'll have dead stock'. Sadly it does sometimes just happen. I think birds, even more than other animals, hide the fact that they're ill til the very last minute. All very 'stiff-upper-beak' but not helpful to the poor poultry keeper
 

[little blue]

poor duck. 
good luck with your new ones....

[northfifeduckling]

interesting - my first thoughts were that you were either sold a sick duck or that flubenvet did not agree with her. I find that some of my birds are under the weather when I worm them, like looking really unwell for a few days. I wish there was a suitable replacement for flubenvet. Maybe the combination of being on show, moving house, not being quite well and worming was too much for Betty. Better luck with your new ones!

[jaykay]

I wish there was a suitable replacement for flubenvet

Well, I (and other people) worm our geese using either Fenbendazole (Panacur) or levamisole. I just squirt it down their beaks. So presumably you could do the same for ducks?

You worm geese like this because they graze so much they wouldn't take enough treated feed.

[goosepimple]

There may be a stress factor here too, hens certainly get stressed when they are suddenly placed in new surroundings with different faces.  I think auctions/shows can be very stressful for the birds too - I prefer to try and locate from individuals to avoid that, you often get a lot of older unwanted stock included at auctions too.  Good luck with the new ones, as a farmer friend of mine says, 'when you've got livestock you've got problems'... such is the way of it.

[melholly]

Hi everyone,

Yes I think you are all right...I should have known better than to get them from a show BUT as it was a one day, local agricultural show and I had them by 10am I thought stress would be limited...who knows! BUT another interesting thing this morning having spent a whole morning relining their pen area in prep for collecting my newbies I found Belle (my other Campbell newbie) hiding in the long grass and whenever she ventured out my Runner drake would go wild chasing her, pecking her neck etc. So this went on a few times until he chased her into the water and had his way with her BUT he's big and she's still a young duck and her head was under more times than it was up....could this be what happened to Betty? Could my big runner drake have drowned my young Khaki Campbell having his way?? Do ducks even drown in fact...??!!

Oh I wish they could talk, or at least we understand 'quack!'

Mx

[doganjo]

There have been many reports of ducks drowning while being mated and my girls often seem to have their heads under water a lot.  Did you find Betty near the water?  If so it is possible that is what happened.  The more females your drake has the better for them!

[northfifeduckling]

I would keep the boy locked away until the girls are established with the other girls, maybe a few days. The more girls the better as he will have to divert his "attention". He will want to have his way with her also to claim her as his.  Can you keep them from deep water until things have calmed down? 

[melholly]

OMG WHAT a day!!

Thanks for recent replies - yes Betty was found in the water by the long grasses. Talk about a learning curve - I thought my drake my be a bit too amorous and had kept them apart and then a bit together for their first 4 days together...ho hum.

On an even worse note picked my 2 replacement Campbells up, got them home, released them in their 'pen within the pen' - only for one of them to scale a 6ft fence and has now gone... HUGE mixture of emotions here, mainly peeved as phoned the breeder straight away who just said 'they shouldn't have been able to do that and clip the other ones wings....'

SO not happy Mx

[northfifeduckling]

oh no....what a nightmare!
They should not have been able to fly over 6 ft, wings clipped or not, she must have gotten herself into a huge frightful state. Best to get them at night and put them to bed in their new house. Has she literally flown away???  Lock them into a pen for the first few days in a new place, then introduce them to the other girls first. Just get some more, only way...or incubate some eggs.