Two ducks who died a week apart. Both good weight, no discharges from nares, no injury, both male. Both mallards and both mallards which carry a genetic mutation which changes their feather colour a little (however I have birds 6 yrs old with this mutation so the mutation itself is not a killer)

Both found on their front, head to side (so not on back or arched head position at death). Both found soon after death with no signs of illness in any bird in the flock (And yes I know birds hide signs of illness and it is possible I might have missed the first ones signs of illness if he hid them well, even though I am aware of this and know how to look for it. But not the second, as i was being very careful to check the birds in the last week, and any bird that sat down for too long got approached by me to check it was ok, and then watched out of the side of my eyes later when it didn't know I was watching to make sure it was not putting on an act, an there were no birds with any signs of illness.

The only other weird thing I found, which might not be relevant, was what looked like fecal matter in both their mouths, in the beak and also right at the back. I have seen plenty of dead ducks before and not seen that, but maybe because it is winter here and muddy they had seizures when dying and scraped mud and poop into their mouths during that, i dont know, but still it is not something I have seen before.

I have had trichomonas in ducks before, but every single one has shown obvious signs of ill health for days before death (or recovery, some responded to ronidazole or metronidazole some did not). I would estimate there has been occasional trich cases in the flock for 3-4 years (i say that as my avian vet is not sure if the first possible trich case 4 yrs back was trich or mycoplasma) and none of them have just dropped dead in apparent good health. I have not found recently dead ducks in the flock with no known cause, ever, in 7 going on 8 years, except for 2 females, one a year ago and one about 6 years ago, both of who may have died of old age. So have never had 2 ducks suddenly dead from unknown causes in a week, ever before despite having 100+birds here.

And the ducks which did die of known trichmonnas had all lost some amount of weight by the time they died. The last duck to die of trich was about 5-6 montha ago and he was separeted from the flock as soon as seen obviously sick and euthanised by the vet about 6 days later. And he was not able to eat much and lost a lot of weight and despite efforts to save him, the need to euthanise him in the end was not exactly a surprise. Other birds with trich were pretty much the same, ie best part of a week sick, and some recovered after antibiotics and some did not. But none ever just went from apparently healthy to dropping dead and none were in good weight when they did eventually die or have to be euthed. And the ones who recovered also lost weight while sick which they gained back later. But none were ever very sick or dead from it yet still in full good body weight.

These two boys were both in good body condition, no loss of fat, no sharp keel, etc.

Also no discharge from nares. A tiny amount of vent staining in the first one, I need to check the second one tomorrow as found late in the day But i think he also had some. By vent staining i mean a grass greenish tinge to feathers arojnd the vent area, which is what I saw in trich cases, but more staining.
No actual fecal matter (in the diagnosed trich cases or these two suddenly deceased drakes) just a grass green stain on feathers directly around the vent of an otherwise clean bird.

definitely no birds in the flock with any signs whatsoever of respiratory distress, no birds with any signs of any reduced energy levels even slight, (i feel like i have seen enough sick ducks in the last 7-8 years and enough ducks trying to hide being sick to be confident that neither of these two ducks was experiencing any signs of illness), within 12 hrs of death.

The only commonalities between the two I have observed are as follows:

both male

Both mallard, both with a feather color mutation, but other ducks with same mutation are now 6 yrs old.

both strong, robust ducks, good feather colors, quality, no loss of waterproofing, good feather quality, behaviour normal, courting, eating, swimming, playing etc etc.

both had no injury

no discharge from nares

very slight vent staining in one,

beaks full of what looked like fecal matter, back at the back of the beak/throat, so much that I could not see the glottis, or anything beyond it. However every duck who has died from trich or mycoplasma I have been able to clearly see the back of the throat, glottis, air pipe, and so on, and normally they (with trich anyway) have not been eating for a while before death so there is nothing in their beak or back of the beak/throat at all)

We dont have HPAI in the country I live in, but even if we did this doesnt seem like what I have read about it as I would have thought that if a duck died of something highly contagious a week ago, then in a flock of 100+ free ranging ducks, id have more than 1 additional dead duck a week later? Plus no discharge from nares, no sick ducks etc...

Does anyone think this could be trichomonas? Which has been confirmed in the flock in the past (last confirmed case was about 16 months ago).

Anything else this might be?

I did treat all their drinking and swimming water with KMnO4 a week ago when I found the first bird. (Didn't have any CuSO4 on hand that day)

thats about all I can think of in terms of useful information.

i do have a microscope here and can check for trich but the birds were dead and cold so my understanding is any trich would have long since died and not be easily detectable in a wet fecal smear under 40x And I dont have anything to stain or prep a stain at home.

if anyone out there has any thoughts or ideas on what else I can do to figure out what is going on....?

has anyone had their conure do a CT scan? my bird is very sick and about 6 months old now, the specialist recommended a CT scan, but i’ve heard there are risks associated with it like how really sick birds may pass away during the scan because they are sedated and may not wake up.

i am very very very scared and worried, been crying a lot, it’s very overwhelming, just looking for advice or help/guidance from anyone who has been through a similar situation

Sanderson Farms 2nd case in less than 1 month Seperate farms Confirmed LT No one told about 1st case 2nd case still hush-hush

SMH

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