2 month old duckling randomly got sick. Help!

[duckmama19]

About 2 weeks ago I came home from work and I checked on my ducklings and they all were doing great so I went in and started dinner. After going back outside I noticed one wasn’t acting the same.

She was unable to walk and when she tried she just fell forwards and started flapping her wings all crazy. Also had no balance and would flip on to her back. I went and got her and when I would hold her, she kept moving her neck all around like she couldn’t keep it steady.

I got worried and isolated her from the rest. At first she wasn’t eating but she was drinking water and eventually started to slowly eat, and within a few days she started getting better. I decided to put her with the rest of the flock and a couple of days ago the same thing happened again but isn’t getting better like the first time. She isn’t really making any sounds like before and now it’s just very quiet sounds.

I don’t know what could’ve happened because I constantly change their water to make sure it stays clean and cool for them and they don’t wander around so I don’t think she could’ve gotten something. Any ideas for what could be wrong?

 

[Ratchnick]

How old? Pictures would help.

 

[duckmama19]

Just over 2 months and she’s a pekin. Not sure if that helps.

 

[Isaac 0]

Sorry to hear about your duckling.

Lots of things can cause "spasms" in waterfowl. Nutritional deficiencies, neurological/spinal damage, toxin ingestion, heat stress, metabolic diseases, or neoplasms.

Narrowing down what might be her underlying cause can sometimes be hard, but we start by taking a look at her past history, her symptoms, then trying to treat or address a few problems and cross out of the list of possibilities. A vet will be able to perform diagnostic tests to his advantage to further down what might be affecting her, that said, if you have the option to take her to a vet that might be best.

Vet Directory- https://www.metzerfarms.com/Veterinarians.cfm

A past history, and a further description of her symptoms would be good.

What is she being fed, how does her pen area look like, could you post a few pictures, have you had any problems in the past with your animals, if so explain, how often do you clean their coop, how hot does it get in their pen, have you seen any damage done to her head/neck before, do you know of anything she may have eaten in her pen.

Could you post a video of her, you'll need to upload it to a video platform like Youtube or Vimeo first, then copy/paste the link here.

 

[duckmama19]

I feed them the flock raiser crumbles. I typically do a quick clean out of all the waste and add some new bedding about twice a week with a light layer of PDZ on the bottom. I don’t keep their food in the coop so when I let them out I’ll feed them. Their coop has their sleeping/nesting area then there’s a little open door so they can go into the run and that’s all fenced so it doesn’t get too hot and there’s a good breeze.

I’m wondering if maybe she wasn’t getting enough niacin from the food. The only bad thing is there isn’t really any vets around here that will look at ducks.

 

[Isaac 0]

How is your duck doing?