always have been
Wild ducks are the main reservoir of influenza A viruses that can be transmitted to domestic poultry and mammals, including humans.
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Ducks were brought up in the context of poop, and that’s the context I was asking about.
Some years back, Heifer Project had an educational farm/facility that I would bring my students to to practice large animal skills.
One of the setups there was an example of a rural Asian homestead, with a small duck pond, the house on stilts, and a pen for pigs underneath.
I always thought it was the perfect example of how/why influenza viruses cycle through the various species.
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Ducks seem to poop a lot more than chickens, and are just dirtier in general than chickens.
If you’re on any of the duck discussion groups, how gross and dirty they are is a frequent point of conversation 
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yeah and that is just how the villager were where I was, that was one reason I had been vaccinated for every conceivable decease/illness …my shot record was a book that was kept very close so I would not have to endure that again
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Thank you, that’s what I was after
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ugh the duck has got to go!! we need some border collies. Although I haven’t seen him for a couple of days. The Canadian Geese are super gross too.
It seems other than the initial fever and colitis, they are doing ok my horse has been fine now.
#4 horse they are reducing supportive care because he’s doing well. Haven’t heard a report of #5 horse yet. I keep asking if Dept of Ag needs to get involved. They are testing for corona (yet again …) and hepatitis now. Everyone else in barn has been normal but we seem to go a couple of days without any problems.
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I think ducks are only gross/dirty if they are kept in small enclosures and/or don’t have access to a reasonable size body of water. A kiddie pool is not a reasonable sized body of water, but it’s often the only way people can provide swimming water on a small lot.
I’ve owned both ducks and chickens and one thing that ducks do more than chickens is self-groom and preen - and they don’t tend to sit in their own manure the way chickens do. 
FWIW I think both are gross 
but I like ducks a lot better. Mine were never dirty other than if they got into the water troughs – but they also could fly and regularly prowled the pasture for bugs and goodies.
Why is the duck hanging around? Is there a body of water local? Is it a lost domestic duck?
If there’s a body of water that’s a much more likely disease vector than a single duck - lots of things drink from water and contaminate it in the process.
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I have no idea, we were calling it a Florida duck because someone said they see them a lot in South Florida. never seen this type of duck here ever, no ponds close to the barn but one in two nearby fields, it looks like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscovy_duck Seems like it came from someone’s private property.
I don’t want to set the cat among the pigeons, so to speak, but has anyone considered Avian Flu? I live in the epicenter of it in Canada, and it has now been found in dogs. It’s a constant worry for me given that the resident ravens use our waterers. It’s been killing thousands of wild birds and domestic poultry in North America.
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I heard of EHV-1 coming from a farm in North Carolina about 3 weeks ago. 1600 horses in Tulsa showing has to quarantine as they were exposed to horses that came from that farm.
With that said, this sounds like anaplasmosis to me.
North of the Winston- Salem area.
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Thank you!
I’m in this area and hadn’t heard anything. Just curious if you had a source or would be willing to PM - if I’m missing places to find relevant information for my area I’d like to know!
No new fevers since horse #5 last Thursday and he resolved his fever in 24 hours with just Banamine. Barring any new developments, we’ll be off quarantine next Thursday. Every single test (and these tests have been done multiple times) have come back negative – salmonella, corona virus, hepatitis, parvo.
Coincidentally (not coincidentally?), the mystery duck also hasn’t been seen since last week either … hopefully, he will stay gone!
fingers crossed we are on the other side of it. I’m slowly bringing my horse back into work, he’s no doubt plotting something else in order to continue to live the retired life 
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I’ll PM
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yes…I had a similar thing go through 4 horses in my barn in March. The vet suggested Corona. All were fine after 2-3 days of fever and picking at feed. Was not tick borne.
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We had something random go through our barn in NJ not long ago and I heard others did too. Our horses weren’t as sick as OP’s but a bunch ran a fever and were off their feed/mildly colic-y… and then recovered a few days later.
My foal in PA also had a similar fever of unknown origin and filling in his legs. We recently discovered an ugly cut that was hiding under his forelock that could be or not be related. No one else at that barn has been sick.
I don’t know that any of this is the same but I have heard there’s something “going around” that no one has quite been able to diagnose.
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