From a peep, to a quack, and now a silent peep.

[BackYard Sheena]

Hello, like everyone before me at some point, I am new to scene of raising farm life. A couple of months ago my mom started raising chickens, and I have become very involved with them. I went with her to get some supplies for her chickens and I saw the baby ducks..... And I fell in love! I was spontaneous in my decision, but if I were honest it has been in the back of my mind quite some time. Handling the chicks gave me the confidence that it would be something I could actually achieve. However, this meant I had no idea the types of ducks I was buying and picked them out purely based on color. That day I figured out I was coming home with one Mallard, and 2 Pekin ducklings

Today (Friday) makes 1 week since I've had them in my home. I purchased them at my local Tractor Supply, which gets their birds in on Monday mornings, and they are only days old at that point. So my ducklings should be right at or around the age 2 weeks. The whole week I have been caring for them, I have been googling all my questions as they came up and I seem to always find my answer in a post in this forum, so I decided I just needed to join!! Well, I've found answers for everything except this one....

Yesterday I heard a new sound coming from one of the pekin ducklings. The sound was what people describe the quacking in the beginning. I got very excited and was very confident we now know we have at least 1 girl. We named her Daisy. She made the sound fairly frequently yesterday, would peep a few times and then QUACK. It would seem to startle her at first, but as the day went she seemed to get used to it.

Now today, she hasn't quacked any, and even more startling, she isn't peeping either. This morning her peep was scratchy sounding, and now is just a whisper.... I have seen people describe the males as getting more and more silent over time so I wonder was I wrong in my decision yesterday??? Is it normal for as the voice changes for her or him to do this??? I've only read about females showing signs of a voice change this early in age, I've read males do it later...

OR... is there maybe something wrong? I was feeding my ducks, chicken starter/grower at direction of Tractor Supply Co.. Yesterday on the OTHER Pekin I noticed the leg looked funny and I researched and read all day to figure out that I was far from alone (especially with TSC in the equation) with this problem and found out about niacin deficiency. So immediately went and got Brewer's Yeast to add to their food and water. I am worried I've given too much and that might have made one of them loose their peep... Any and all information that could help ease my mind or correct this problem would be greatly appreciated!!!

(other notes about their living conditions, they get to "swim" supervised once or twice a day while I clean out bedding. The are on pine shavings bedding, and I keep their water filled and fresh as often as I can, too many times to count each day. They did not like the heat lamp so I moved them in my bathroom which is the warmest room in my house because it has a large window the sun shines through all day and am using a regular 100 watt bulb)

 

[SouthernPride]

I think you are doing fine. Don't worry about the noises coming out of them. I always found it hard to distinguish the sounds they make at an early age.

The leg may be a concern. You don't mention what it looks like, but the niacin is good and also you will want to lower the protein in their feed by getting grower/finisher food.

 

[BackYard Sheena]

Thank you for answering! So should I retract my decision that the one is a girl at this point, or is a quack still a quack and it should continue at a later time?

For the other Pekin, I noticed it's leg turning inward yesterday morning, after I dried it off from swimming and first placed it down.. My first worry was the leg was sprained or broken, because the duckling seemed to have trouble maintaining balance on it. The day before nothing was out of the ordinary. But after reading about how sudden the symptoms can show, and looking at all the pictures of the niacin deficiency, I am pretty confident that is the problem. The duckling can still walk ok, and doesn't seem to be in pain, but it is having more trouble with balance and control than before and when compared to my other two ducklings (it is also the largest and lightest in color out of the two Pekins) along with the one leg turning to the inside.

EDIT: I am actually getting ready to go out to a local pet store to see if I can find a better option for food for them. Both the tractor supply and southern states close by only carry chick food. If I can't find food for ducks at the pet store I was going to try and order some online tonight.

 

[BackYard Sheena]

I wanted to post an update to our situation. After two days of whispering peeps, "Daisy's" quack has finally returned!!

I successfully found "Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles" for my ducklings at the pet store. And the other pekin's leg seems to be doing much better. It still turns in sometimes when walking but it is much stronger and doesn't loose it's balance/quickly tire like before.

I wanted to double check on here that this is an ok food for my ducklings and not just take the pet store owner's word for it. And see if I should continue the brewer's yeast until the duckling's foot is straight or just give them the new food?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I wanted to post an update to our situation. After two days of whispering peeps, "Daisy's" quack has finally returned!!

I successfully found "Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles" for my ducklings at the pet store. And the other pekin's leg seems to be doing much better. It still turns in sometimes when walking but it is much stronger and doesn't loose it's balance/quickly tire like before.

I wanted to double check on here that this is an ok food for my ducklings and not just take the pet store owner's word for it. And see if I should continue the brewer's yeast until the duckling's foot is straight or just give them the new food?

I use Purina FR with all my flock including ducklings/chicks and hopefully soon to be goslings. it's fine for all ages. and yes continue the brewers yeast till at least 10 weeks. glad to hear your ducklings doing so much better.