What to Do When a Duck Gets Sick? Common Disease Symptoms and Prevention and Treatment Methods

Ducks are one of our common poultry, widely raised across a very broad range, with high nutritional and economic value, and deeply loved by consumers. However, in the breeding process, the larger the breeding scale, the higher the disease incidence, causing economic losses to farmers. Below, Qinnong Network brings you several common duck diseases and their prevention and treatment methods. Let's take a look.

1. Avian Influenza

This disease is a sudden-onset illness, with extremely rapid onset, and it is also highly contagious, generally breaking out at the turn of autumn and winter and during temperature changes. The symptoms are not eating and a marked rise in body temperature. The duck's comb, head and eyelids become edematous, the spirit is depressed, and sick ducks also suffer from diarrhea, passing yellow-white, milky white and yellow-green droppings. This disease often spreads to the entire duck flock at an extremely fast speed after onset. If not treated in time, it will cause mass death within a few days, with a mortality rate as high as 90%.

Prevention and treatment methods: For elevated body temperature, mung bean decoction can be fed to bring the fever down. Adding oxytetracycline to the feed can treat the diarrhea, and feeding aspirin can treat the cold. If the condition is extremely serious, penicillin can be injected intramuscularly.

2. Duck Plague

Duck plague is an acute, contact-transmitted, septicemic infectious disease. At onset it generally presents as swelling of the head, so it is also called big-head plague. It can infect and cause disease at every growth stage of ducks, and is famous for its strong contagiousness and high mortality rate. At onset, the duck is listless, the neck is contracted, appetite is completely lost, feathers are ruffled, both wings droop weakly, the eyes shed tears, the eyelids swell, and there are viscous secretions from the nose, causing breathing difficulty and diarrhea. The droppings are often green or grayish white, and finally the duck dies from septicemic symptoms.

Prevention and treatment methods: Do a good job of dividing the duck flock, raising ducks of different breeds and ages separately, keeping feed and drinking water clean and hygienic to avoid viral infection. In seasons with a high incidence of this disease, the duck flock should be vaccinated in advance. At onset, professional drugs can be used for treatment.

3. Colibacillosis

Colibacillosis is mainly a general term for a series of diseases caused by Escherichia coli. The condition can be divided into many types, mainly infected through the digestive tract, but the onset in ducklings is generally related to contamination of breeding eggs. Its mortality rate is extremely high. Generally, after a duck falls ill, it shows complete loss of appetite, listlessness, elevated body temperature and fever, diarrhea, thin and foul-smelling droppings mixed with blood streaks, and difficulty breathing, and finally dies of exhaustion and suffocation.

Prevention and treatment methods: Strengthen feeding management, do a good job of environmental hygiene and disinfection, and prevent bacteria from breeding and causing infection. Ensure that feed and drinking water are fresh and clean. The feed fed should not be spoiled or moldy, and the drinking water should be changed frequently, especially in the high-temperature summer season. After onset, special prevention and treatment drugs can be used according to the instructions.

4. Duck Cholera

Duck cholera is an infectious disease caused by infection with Pasteurella as the pathogen. According to its onset cycle, it can be divided into three types: peracute, acute and chronic. In the peracute type, sudden death occurs at onset, mostly in epidemic seasons, and no symptoms at all can be seen before death. The acute type presents as the sick duck's body temperature rising, up to as high as 44 degrees, accompanied by diarrhea, with yellow-green or grayish-white droppings, foam and mucus flowing from the mouth and nostrils, causing breathing difficulty. In the early stage, there are also symptoms of weakened appetite or not eating and drinking large amounts of water, and death can occur within half a day to three days. The chronic type develops from the acute type. At onset, the sick duck shows anemia, weakened appetite, and the body gradually becomes emaciated, with joint inflammation and swelling, causing the sick duck to be unable to walk normally and often lie on the ground. The course of the disease can last up to several weeks, but the mortality rate is not high.

Prevention and treatment methods: Regular disinfection, killing poultry that are hosts or carriers of Pasteurella, improving sanitary conditions, and timely vaccination can effectively prevent and treat duck cholera. At onset, adding thiamphenicol powder to drinking water can treat it, with remarkable effect.

The above are the common disease symptoms and prevention and treatment methods for ducks brought to you by Qinnong Network. We hope it can help you. To learn more about duck raising knowledge, please stay tuned.