Ducks

How to orally medicate ducks with pills or syringes (includes videos!)

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Knowing how to safely medicate ducks or other waterfowl can make the difference between life or death for your pet or backyard ducks. In this article, we’ll show you exactly how to pill or syringe your ducks to provide the medications they need when at-home care is appropriate. 


We should start out this article by making three points crystal clear:

1. You shouldn’t get any animal (including ducks and other waterfowl) unless you’re prepared to provide them with excellent care — including medical care — if/when they need it. 

2. If you have backyard ducks or pet ducks, you should have a duck first aid kit in your house in the event that there are minor medical complications/problems.

3. If a duck in your flock gets seriously sick or injured and/or you’re not confident in your knowledge and ability to treat it, you should take it to a vet immediately (ideally an avian vet). 

We’ve got many years of experience successfully raising ducks and providing them with knowledge-appropriate at-home medical care, but we are not avian vets (e.g. we’re not qualified to do at-home avian surgeries or to diagnose or treat serious life-threatening illnesses/injuries in our ducks). If you’re reading this and you have a sick or injured duck, it’s likely that you’re in the same boat we are.

In short: please don’t let your sick or injured duck suffer unnecessarily if it needs help beyond what you can reasonably diagnose or provide — take it to your vet! 

Jackson and Marigold von Duck will teach you hot to medicate a duck with pills or syringes in the videos down below.

Jackson and Marigold von Duck will teach you hot to medicate a duck with pills or syringes in the videos down below.

WHEN to medicate your ducks at home

Now that we have that disclosure out of the way, let’s talk about times when it’s completely appropriate for you to provide at-home medical care for your duck, including medicating your ducks: 

  • minor, non-life threatening illnesses and injuries; 
  • illnesses/injuries that you have prior knowledge and experience diagnosing and treating;
  • illnesses/injuries that your vet has given you instruction to continue treating at home. 

We’ve been through a wide range of medical complications with ducks in our flock over the years, so our confidence in diagnosing and treating certain illnesses/injuries at home is likely going to be very different from that of a new duck parent. 

For instance, we just had someone in France reach out to us on our facebook page with the following inquiry: 

Hi, I need help with my duck. 6 months old Pekin diagnosed with arthritis due to infection when a duckling before we rescued her. Vitamins helped but 3 weeks ago her leg started swelling and she now can’t walk or stand. In France ducks and chickens have no value so I have no vet support except generic antibiotics. What can I give her to ease the swelling and as long term support. The American forums are great and I found your site last night. Really helpful re first aid kit etc. Any advice really welcome. Regards. 

In this instance, it’s pretty clear this relatively new duck parent is going to have to do some sleuthing and medicating on her own. Our advice back to her: 

Hi! Thanks for your concern for your duck. There are a couple options available here in the US, but I’m not sure what options you have available there.

1. A drug called Metacam. That’s the brand name. The actual drug is generically meloxicam. It’s a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that works great for ducks. Our avian vet has given us a standing prescription for it and we’ve used it for egg binding, injured legs, etc. over the years. It works great. It’s commonly prescribed for dogs as well, so perhaps you could get a vet prescription for it in France.

2. Turmeric powder/capsules. If you can find high quality turmeric capsules, this could be a big help as well. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties. Our vet has actually recommended this as well. This is something you may be able to find in a grocery store, health food store, or pharmacy – if not, you should be able to order it online easily – no prescription required. Hope this helps and your duck’s arthritis symptoms become manageable!

Additionally: Metacam is a liquid that you have to put into a blunt plastic syringe and shoot down their throat, carefully avoiding the glottis. The glottis is the windpipe/hole in the middle of their throat at the back of their tongues that opens and closes allowing them to breathe. It’s actually surprisingly easy to do this procedure yourself and there are online videos showing you how. (It’s easier with two people involved when you’re new to it.) If you put fluid into their glottis, it can cause serious aspiration-related health issues (including death), so it’s important to learn what to do before doing it. 

Turmeric pills would also need to be pushed down their throat to the side of the glottis in order for them to swallow it. 

What does a duck glottis look like? 

If you’re wondering what the heck a duck glottis is or what it looks like, here you go: 

It's EXTREMELY important to know what a duck glottis is when giving oral medication to your duck. If liquid or a pill goes down their glotis, it can kill them or make them extremely sick.

It’s EXTREMELY important to know what a duck glottis is when giving oral medication to your duck. If liquid or a pill goes down their glotis, it can kill them or make them extremely sick.

Funny example of medicating our duck

Below is a picture of Jackson, one of our ducks. As you can see, the bottom of her mouth is very swollen in this photo. 

Just like your children, sometimes your ducks do dumb things. Like putting a hornet underneath their tongue. Not that we know anyone who has done that, do we, Jackson the duck? Nope. // Duck Health Guide

Just like your children, sometimes your ducks do dumb things. Like putting a hornet underneath their tongue and holding it there for a bit like it’s a slow-dissolving lozenge. Not that we know anyone who has done that, do we, Jackson the duck? Nope. With some Metacam + Diphenhydramine (Children’s Benadryl), the swelling was better in two days.

Why? Jackson decided to eat a hornet (unrelated but you should check out the inside of a hornet’s nest – they’re amazing!). 

Jackson was not happy about this condition and was clearly in pain. We were worried she might have trouble eating and drinking – especially if the swelling got worse. What to do?  

We gave Jackson:

  1. A syringe of *Children’s Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) two mornings in a row to help stop the swelling and reduce her body’s allergic response to the hornet sting.  (*Very important: Do not use grape-flavored children’s Benadryl on your ducks. Our vet told us either the dye or the flavoring used in the grape is dangerous to waterfowl.) 
  2. A syringe of Metacam (meloxicam) twice daily. As mentioned above, this is an excellent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) that helps control pain and inflammation. It also requires an Rx from a vet. 

After a bit of indoor R & R and medical treatment, Jackson was soon back outside. 

HOW to medicate your ducks at home

We don’t recommend giving your duck a shot (with a needle) into their flesh at home unless you have training and experience doing so. Giving ducks shots carries a high risk of you puncturing an air sac or organ unless you have experience with the procedure and know duck anatomy.  

The medical procedures we’re outlining in this article are:

  1. giving your ducks pills, and
  2. giving your ducks oral injections with a syringe. 

There are quite a few instances in which such care would be necessary. A few examples: 

  • bacterial or fungal infections,
  • egg passage issues or egg binding,
  • broken bones,
  • serious cases of bumblefoot, 
  • a minor sprain or twist,
  • vitamin deficiencies.    

The primary risks involved with pilling or injecting medication or supplements into your duck’s mouth are:

  • putting something down their glottis which can kill them or cause an infection;
  • causing additional injury or damage to their mouths. 
Important: be extremely careful to avoid damaging your duck's glottis or accidentally putting medication down their glottis when you're medicating them.

Important: be extremely careful to avoid damaging your duck’s glottis or accidentally putting medication down their glottis when you’re medicating them.

 

Depending on whether you need to give your duck or other waterfowl a pill or an oral injection with a syringe, the instructional videos below should help:  

Video 1: How to safely give your duck a pill  

Thanks to Marigold von Duck for posing in this how to pill a duck instructional video, which she was not terribly pleased about. She’s not sick, so we just gave her a B Vitamin. 

Video 2: How to safely give your duck an oral injection with a syringe 

Thanks to Jackson von Duck for begrudgingly starring in this how to give your duck an oral injection with a syringe video. Jackson isn’t sick either, so we just gave her a bit of homemade elderberry syrup mixed with water. 

We hope the information and videos in this article help you safely and effectively care for your ducks! If you have additional questions about how to medicate ducks, please let us know in the comment section below.

Knowing how to safely medicate ducks or other waterfowl can make the difference between life or death for your pet or backyard ducks. In this article, we'll show you exactly how to pill or syringe your ducks to provide the medications they need when at-home care is appropriate. #medicatingbirds #flocksafety #raisingducks #raisingfowl #medicatingducks #tyrantfarms

KIGI,

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8 Comments

  • Reply
    Carol
    April 6, 2024 at 5:24 pm

    no videos anywhere on this page that I could find

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      April 7, 2024 at 3:58 pm

      Hi Carol! Both videos are towards the bottom of the page under the headers:
      VIDEO 1: HOW TO SAFELY GIVE YOUR DUCK A PILL
      VIDEO 2: HOW TO SAFELY GIVE YOUR DUCK AN ORAL INJECTION WITH A SYRINGE

      If you’re running ad blocking software, the videos may not appear. If so, you’ll need to temporarily disable the software to view them. Hope this helps!

  • Reply
    Christine
    October 21, 2023 at 2:18 am

    Thank you so much for making this very informative article. I have referenced it a few times when needing to medicate my ducks. So helpful! Thank you!

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      October 21, 2023 at 9:21 am

      Glad the information was helpful for you, Christine!

  • Reply
    Emily
    July 14, 2023 at 6:51 pm

    Dear Tyrant! HELP!
    My ducklings had been sneezing since I got them from farm supply store and after appox. 3 weeks with no change, I took them to avian vet. One baby had left lung wheezes heard with the stethoscope. I refused blood work and xray as they were cost prohibitive. Two days later, I could hear ducky’s poor wheezes with my own ear and she was shaking head and snot was flying out of her nares. Both ducklings are still eating and drinking OK, and I finally got and gave both 6 week old babies their first dose of liquid amoxicillin. They hated it. I had not viewed your video prior to this and the ordeal was a mess. I had to let the girls take another bath afterwards to wash off all the goo in their fuzz. And now I’m scared some may have gone down their glotis openings!
    Now having watched your liquid administration video on your adult duck, can I do same procedure with 6-7 week old ducklings? Their bills are still so small! Please help…I have 9 more days to go with their treatment!

    • Reply
      Susan von Frank
      July 15, 2023 at 5:12 pm

      Yikes! There’s a lot here. We really wish farm supply stores didn’t sell ducklings for a thousand reasons, but we’ll leave that issue aside here. Yes, you can orally medicate 6-7 week old ducklings using the exact same method we show in our video in this article. It’s very important not to get any medication or liquid down their glottis in the process or that could cause a whole host of new problems. Hopefully, you were able to avoid the glottis during the initial medication and hopefully the antibiotics are able to clear up whatever respiratory infection you’re dealing with. Amoxicillin is a good broad-spectrum antibiotic, but it’s impossible to know what the specific bacterial infection is without lab testing (via swab or blood work). We sure hope things turn out ok for you all. Keep us posted!

  • Reply
    Marissa
    July 6, 2023 at 5:43 pm

    This is so helpful! thank you very much! We’re fostering a duck who needs meds and the vet showed us but I was nervous about the glottis. The closeup pics and videos really helped. Thanks again!

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      July 7, 2023 at 6:35 am

      Yay! Glad this information helped you safely medicate your duck, Marissa.

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