I'm pretty new to raising ducks. I recently bought 3 pekin ducklings. I think 2 of them are around 5-6 weeks old and the other around 3-4 weeks (they didn't tell me when I bought them). One of the older ones has a leg problem. When he was little he kind of stumbled around a lot. I thought it was a niacin deficiency so i bought niacin tablets and added it to the water. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that I found out I was using a "Flush Free" brand and that it doesn't work for the ducks. So now my poor guy is limping and doesn't seem to be getting any better. He doesn't put any weight on the one leg he just holds it up the whole time unless he gets scared and then he kind of runs on his elbow. As soon as I found out the flush free niacin wouldn't work I went out and bought the right kind and also got pure brewers yeast powder that I have been sprinkling on their food.
I guess what I'm asking is did I wait to long to get the niacin into his system? He's been on the niacin and brewers yeast for at least 2 weeks now and he hasn't changed. My second question is, is it really a niacin problem or is it something else? Only the one leg is effected and from what I've seen online of ducklings that have the deficiency is they almost craw on the ground...he was never that bad. Could this maybe be a birth defect or maybe an injury that we didn't know about? I just don't want him to be in pain. I'm hesitant to take him to the vet because as much as I don't want him to be in pain or anything when it comes down to it he's a $4 duck and I can't afford a huge vet bill.
I guess what I'm asking is did I wait to long to get the niacin into his system? He's been on the niacin and brewers yeast for at least 2 weeks now and he hasn't changed. My second question is, is it really a niacin problem or is it something else? Only the one leg is effected and from what I've seen online of ducklings that have the deficiency is they almost craw on the ground...he was never that bad. Could this maybe be a birth defect or maybe an injury that we didn't know about? I just don't want him to be in pain. I'm hesitant to take him to the vet because as much as I don't want him to be in pain or anything when it comes down to it he's a $4 duck and I can't afford a huge vet bill.