Learning how to treat water belly in ducks can help you provide comfort to ducks in distress. Water Belly, or ascites, is incurable. But, with the right treatment, you can control the disease and give your duck a quality life for years to come.
What Is Water Belly In Ducks?
Water belly or ascites refers to fluid buildup in the abdominal cavity. It’s relatively common in poultry, like chickens or ducks, though it can happen in humans and other animals too!
Larger birds tend to be more susceptible to water belly, making it a disease more commonly seen in meat breeds, like broiler chickens. But, it can appear in backyard flocks as well.
Though it is incurable and life-threatening, ducks with stable care can live a good quality life for several years after the disease develops. Without care, ducks with ascites are likely to die of heart failure, lung pressure, or liver problems.
What Causes Water Belly In Ducks?
Water belly is usually caused by pulmonary hypertension, which results in heart failure over time. Pulmonary hypertension can develop in ducks for a few reasons.
First, if you’re raising your ducks in high altitude areas (over 11,000 feet) where oxygen is in lower supply, ducks can experience hypoxia which leads to pulmonary hypertension.
Pulmonary hypertension can also occur in flocks at sea level whose owners raise them on diets made to maximize their growth rate. This is why water belly is a bigger concern for meat breeds than it is for backyard flocks. You’re more likely to give a duck growth-promoting feed if you’re raising them for meat than you are to provide it for a pet.
Pulmonary hypertension can also be hereditary, which is why you should never hatch an egg from a duck with ascites. And it can also come from respiratory infections like Aspergillosis, which a duck can pick up from moldy feed.
If water belly isn’t from pulmonary hypertension, it’s probably due to liver damage. Liver damage can occur due to aflatoxin or plant toxins in the duck’s diet. Plants like Crotolaria, or rattleweed, common in tropical and subtropical areas, can cause liver damage that leads to water belly, and it’s only one of many toxic plants.
Older ducks and overweight ducks are more likely to develop ascites, as are ducks with poor diets. And, birds that deal with greater environmental stress are more prone to the disease too.
Chicks that struggle to stay warm enough early in life can develop heart disease, which leads to pulmonary hypertension and then ascites. However, other stressors play a role as well. If owners raise ducks in unsanitary conditions or areas with poor ventilation, they’re at greater risk for developing water belly as they age.
Because water belly has so many possible causes, you’ll need to work with a veterinarian to discover what’s causing it in your duck. Doing so is crucial because a veterinarian can alert you to environmental conditions, plant toxins, or dietary issues you may not have been aware of. That could help you prevent ascites from developing in other members of your flock.
Symptoms of Water Belly In Ducks
If your duck has ascites, you’ll likely notice the following:
- Tight, bloated belly that feels like an overfilled water balloon
- No discharge
- No sign of an egg in the abdomen
- Loss of appetite
- Lethargy
On top of that, your duck’s belly may be noticeably warm to the touch, and it could have a small red patch.
Can Ducks Get Bloated?
If you’re wondering why your duck is bloated, water belly could be to blame, but that’s not always the case. Ducks can bloat after eating low-nutrient foods like bread or other starches. Bread can also make ducks seem lethargic, which is another water belly symptom.
However, most duck owners know not to feed their flocks a bread-based diet. So if your duck has a distended abdomen despite healthy nutrition, water belly could be to blame. Or, as we’ll discuss below, your duck could be having trouble laying an egg.
Egg Bound or Water Belly
When a bird can’t lay an egg, we call it egg bound. Egg-bound ducks are bound to be uncomfortable and may show many of the symptoms that we listed above. However, you’ll likely be able to feel or see the stuck egg.
If there’s no sign of an egg, a duck with a distended abdomen is more likely to have water belly than an egg-laying problem.
How To Drain Water Belly In Ducks
As mentioned, there is no ascites cure for ducks, but proper treatment can make them comfortable and can provide a good life for years to come. It’s always a good idea to consult a vet before attempting treatment like this, but know that many duck owners successfully treat ascites in ducks at home.
Supplies
Treating a duck for water belly involves draining the accumulated fluid to relieve pressure and provide comfort for the animal. To do this, you’ll need the following:
- Alcohol swabs
- Large gauge syringe
- Small gauge needles
- A willing assistant!
If you don’t have alcohol swabs, cotton balls soaked in alcohol will do. And the large gauge syringe can be reused throughout the course of treatment, but note that the needles cannot. Each time you repeat the procedure, you’ll need a new needle on hand.
As for the assistant, it’s not a requirement, but it does make things easier. It helps if one person can hold the duck while the other inserts the needle and extracts the fluid. If you’re going to try the procedure alone, make sure you test the syringe in advance. They tend to be very tight at first, but a few test pumps can loosen them up.
Whether you have an assistant or not, it’s crucial to have all your tools laid out and ready to go. That will allow you to work fast and keep your duck from getting too stressed.
Fluid Extraction: Step-By-Step
First, determine where you’ll insert the needle. You want to locate the right side of the lower belly. It’s easiest to do this if your assistant is sitting and can hold the duck in their lap facing towards them. By positioning the duck in this way, with its tail hanging off your assistant’s knee, it should be easy to locate the lower right side of the abdomen.
Next, use your alcohol swab to clean the area thoroughly. Then, insert the needle and pull back on the syringe slowly to extract the liquid. When you insert the needle, it should feel squishy, like poking into a water balloon.
The extracted fluid should be clear with a yellow tint. It should never be pink, red, or have any other color or texture. If it does, you’ve probably placed the needle in the wrong spot. You can carefully remove it and try again.
Once the syringe is full, unscrew it but leave the needle inserted. The inserted needle will continue to drip fluid because of the pressure inside the bird’s belly. Drain the syringe, and repeat the process if you feel it’s necessary, but never take more than 4 oz of fluid at a time.
Draining more than half a cup of liquid could put your bird into shock due to fluid loss. You’ll also want to give your duck at least a day to recover between extractions; while draining fluid is a relief to them, it can also be traumatic.
Once you’ve drained the fluid, remove the needle and give your duck a treat. Watch them for a bit to make sure they’re recovering, and then put them back with the rest of the flock.
If you’re unsure about any of the fluid extraction procedures, visuals can help. This video by Common Sense Home is a good one to watch. You may also want to consult with a veterinarian before you start.
Post Fluid Extraction: What To Expect
Once you drain your duck’s water belly, you can expect their behavior to return to normal. Within a day or so, they should seem more perky and alert. If their abdomen is still bloated, you can do another extraction in one to two days. If their belly is back to normal, wait and observe them regularly.
Every duck is different when it comes to ascites, and their bellies will fill at varying rates. Some ducks may go weeks or months without experiencing water belly again, but for others, relief might only be a few days.
And, this can change with the seasons. For example, you may notice your duck’s belly fills up faster in spring than it does in winter. So, monitoring ascites takes regular attention; don’t expect it to adhere to a specific schedule.
Final Thoughts
Water belly in ducks is, unfortunately, incurable, and there are many reasons it can occur. However, treatment for water belly or ascites is also relatively straightforward, and you can do it at home with simple first-aid tools.
Learning how to treat water belly in ducks can keep your birds comfortable throughout the course of the disease. You won’t be able to cure it, but you can ensure they live a high-quality life regardless of ascites.