treating duck for ear mites

How do I treat a duck for ear mites? I have been searching online, but haven't found any information on it. While I am at it, is there a natural way to get it done?

are you sure it has ear mites? waterfowl rarely get mites

You can get special ear mite oil in a pet store, but any oil in the ear will suffocate them. Olive perhaps?

Awk!!! What makes you think you have ear mites!!! I have had enough of mites and now I am hearing ear mites, blah.....gads I hope you get that under control, if they actually do have them....pleeeeeze, what makes you think you have ear mites. You need to share! Have a wonderful day, whatever you need to do to find wonderfulness, smiling. CynthiaM.

I asked on another thread and 2 people said to treat for them. I was also told that it could be a niacin deficiency or vitamin A (I think).

What is happening is that the duck is dizzy...falling over sideways and sometimes backwards...any direction. Sometimes it catches itself before it falls over. If it goes too fast forward, it can have a hard time stopping without toppling. It is healthy otherwise and the other two have no issues, so I am figuring that the ear mite thing makes more sense. If it was a deficiency, I figure that the other two would have the same problem. Generally if anything else is dizzy (including people), there is an ear issue of some sort, and so that is also why this seems to make sense. It can't hurt to try the oil treatment.

Anyway, thank you for the input. I have never looked for a duck's ear before, so this could be interesting. lol

Yep, I had ear mites in a Cochin once. It took a while to diagnose the problem and the poor guy was unbalanced, and spent his time casting his head back and forth and not moving. Now, not moving is not unusual for Cochin, but the kicker was s cheesy, pus-like substance in his ear. I could dig or squeeze it out. It took a long time to make a diagnosis, but as soon as I gave him regular treatments of ear mite oil he did get better. Unfortunately his ears were too damaged from weeks without treatment. I think the mites destroyed the balance centre in his ear canal and he was never the same. He eventually died.

So, oil smothers mites. Ear mite oil works but a daily treatment of olive oil, mineral oil, neem oil, etc certainly cannot hurt your bird. Well, maybe his feelings will be a little upset.

Ya Sue, that was such a bummer, that rooster and the ichy ears. And TOO bad that it SO long for you to get help to finally figure out what this imbalance was. I recall your posts about it and your plea for help. Sigh....sometimes we just fall through the cracks. That poor rooster, all he wanted to do was be a dude and have a good life. Ear mites, blah!! Enough of mites eh? It is a war on mites, no matter what kind, and knowledge is powerful stuff. Listen to people when they tell of their sorrows with the birds. Someone can always find some words to help others to get things right again. Ear mites. Blah!! Just another bad thing to keep in the back of our minds. Have wonderful days, mite free!! CynthiaM.

We had them inside...the conditions were not too bad in where they were, but we wondered if some outside time might even help. So far, things are starting to look a little better and she is eating some grass along with the feed and having some access to bathing water instead of just the eye & nostril wash/water bucket. I wonder if having a bit deeper water is helping flush some of the problem away, and if the grass is giving her something that was missing. We will continue to keep a close eye on her and I will keep you all updated.

The duck is fine. We treated the ears with grape seed oil and put the 3 young ducks out on grass. She is still not quite the same as the others, but can walk and run very well now.