[Kate and her Ducks]

Thank you, think a lot of people will find that really helpful, great to have someone about who knows their chickens

Hope your ears didn't go too red last night :oops:









PS. Do like a man who knows to put latin species names in italics  I can't spell but I am a pendant!

[chooknewbie]

Hi Will and welcome to the so nicely and appropriately put "Nuthouse"...

heard a lot of good things about you...  

[too many girls]

Kate, i don't think Will knows your a surgeon (i don't think he needs a vasectomy either!!!!!!

[Foxy]

hello Will....

oooo Ive got some lovely bantam orpingtons you might like eggies from! They are a gorgeous "auburn" colour!  

Seriously thank you so much for your support with TMG and taking the time to post such an interesting article.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Will, if it's not too cheeky to take advantage of having a vet here, what is the resting heart rate of a duck?

[too many girls]

can you elaborate on something Will? i know you explained it to me in the surgery, but i think the folk on here would like to know, i buy my feed from Tallentyre in butterknowle, having heard of coccidiosis from this forum i asked for medicated chick crumbs, Maurice gave me Farmgate, when Pootle first fell ill we researched poultry diseases on the internet, we did not look up coccodiosis believing they were protected from it, i do think that had we been aware they could still get it we would have brought them to you sooner, and maybe Pootle and Popcorn may not have died, i think many people (like me) assume if they feed medicated crumbs their birds are fully protected, can you explain why this isn't the case? thank you, Romney.

[Will2]

Duck heart rate is not fully documented, unfortunately this is the case with a lot of poultry data (same for small furry animals) It will vary with breed, size and age. I would usually expect it to be in excess of 150bpm, but less than 200 and would hope to compare this to a similar individual in the same flock kept under the same management conditions, then I would view any differences along side any presenting clinical signs (cyanosis, lethargy etc.) heart disease is reported in most species of domestic birds, but treatment would be difficult.

Will

[Kate and her Ducks]

Thanks. I was finding it difficult to find any information. I found an article on Eider ducks which seemed to have resting heart rates of 100-135 but no idea how they compare to domestic ducks.

My duck has sustained trauma during a fox attack and last night was going at about 200-220. has come down with fluids and rest to 160 so hoping we are going the right direction. Don't know how I would assess cyanosis as he's a Cayuga cross and therefore black

[Will2]

Medicated chick crumbs contain a coccidistat, several are available. These aid in the prevention (NOT treatment) of coccidiosis. They prevent the replication of coccidia within the intestines. However, as I tried to explain in the essay above, the control of coccidia is a balancing act between the level of environment challenge and the resistance of the chicks to infection. The coccidiostat in the food is only one component of this protection. Imagine a traditional set of scales with the chicks resistance on one side and environmental challenge on the other side, on the side of the chicks resistance there are many factors, such as the natural barrier to infection provided by the lining of the intestines, the chicks own immune system, and in this case, the coccidiostats in the food. On the other side of the scales is the size of the environmental challenge, so, regardless of any medication, it is always possible to see any disease in the chicks if the environmental challenge is large enough. Also, some coccidiostats will reduce the exposure of the chicks immune system to the coccidia, which will reduce the development of the chicks own immunity. In a commercial setting, coccidiostats are sometimes used in pulses (eg one week on, one week off) to allow the chicks immune system a controlled amount of exposure to the coccidia, and therefore a natural immunity to develop, however this can be really complicated to impliment, so I would not advise it without specialist advise on an individual flock basis.

I hope this explains the problem.

Will

[Will2]

Kate, 160bpm sounds ok to me, I think eider ducks are fairly large, so their heart rate would be slightly lower.
Will

[too many girls]

that explains it very well, when my dad asked what you'd said about the chick crumbs i couldn't explain it to him, i can now, he'll think i've remembered it all from wednesday.....................

[Kate and her Ducks]

Thanks.

[Vember]

Awwwww Will2 Your fantastic


Thanks for such great info & helping TMGs & Pip with the Polands & Kate with the info for Patrick  

Sarah

[Hawkins]

Will was very good with the info. Do you think he likes chocolate?

[too many girls]

But that doesn't answer what he knows about ducks and if he wants a vasectomy

So glad your little ones are doing OK. Will keep sending all the good luck wishes I can spare.[/quote]