Pekin duckling 2 weeks old

[Corinne23]

We have 4 Pekin ducklings about 2 weeks old I notice today and yesterday 3 of them are bitting their wings basically raw and are a little dry. I use premium pine shavings from tractor supply I put a towel under the water bowl to absorb some of the water because they get it everywhere and I’ve been giving them old pillow cases to lay on at night. Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I can do to help them?

 

[ruthhope]

Have you seen them biting their wings?

I think that probably feathers are about to erupt. They get little spiky feathers on their wings and tails early on, and you probably have nothing to worry about and need do no more than you are doing

 

[Corinne23]

Have you seen them biting their wings?

I think that probably feathers are about to erupt. They get little spiky feathers on their wings and tails early on, and you probably have nothing to worry about and need do no more than you are doing

Yes they’ve been biting the wings a lot. Thank you very much this is the youngest we’ve gotten ducks. We got khaki campbells last year and they were 4 weeks when we got them so this is new territory for us I was nervous.

 

[Quatie]

I would normally think that this was just them getting their feathers in, but that looks like blood on its wings. What are you feeding them? I wonder if they are low on protein or some other nutrient.

@Miss Lydia have you ever seen anything like this?

 

[Corinne23]

I would normally think that this was just them getting their feathers in, but that looks like blood on its wings. What are you feeding them? I wonder if they are low on protein or some other nutrient.

@Miss Lydia have you ever seen anything like this?

I’ve been giving them purina duck feed crumble with some brewers yeast. I ordered grit it should be here tomorrow. It’s a littledry when you touch it and 3 of the 4 of them have it on their wings

 

[Quatie]

I’ve been giving them purina duck feed crumble with some brewers yeast. I ordered grit it should be here tomorrow. It’s a littledry when you touch it and 3 of the 4 of them have it on their wings

The second picture doesn't look as bad and would make me think just the irritation of feathers coming. But the blood on the wing in the first picture makes me wonder if anything else is going on.

The duck feed sounds good. And you have the brewers yeast, which is great! Sometimes when birds get too little of protein, they will eat feathers and such. That doesn't sound like what is going on here.

How are you keeping them warm? Maybe they are getting too much heat drying them out? Do you give them baths at all?

Hopefully Miss Lydia will chime in. She usually responds in the morning. Because I am not quite sure about this one.

 

[Miss Lydia]

First thing that came to mind was space in the brooder. When they don't have space they will do things like this because they are cramped and bored. If you are having nice weather start taking them outside and let them run around some. {always with them] They have fun alleviate boredom and hopefully stop pulling on each other's feathers. Bath time is another way to keep boredom down. Just make sure the water is warm and if they haven't been in the tub yet start them off with the water just up to the tops of their legs. Then gradually make it deeper. Always stay with them and watch for them tiring out, get them out dry them and place them in a warm brooder. Make sure your brooder isn't too warm at 2 weeks they can be at temps around 80 maybe even slightly cooler since they are Pekins and seem to overheat. And because Pekins grow so fast I'd switch from brewers yeast to nutritional yeast 1 Tab per cup of feed every day until at least 10 weeks old.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutritional-yeast-vs-brewers-yeast.1393856/

 

[Corinne23]

First thing that came to mind was space in the brooder. When they don't have space they will do things like this because they are cramped and bored. If you are having nice weather start taking them outside and let them run around some. {always with them] They have fun alleviate boredom and hopefully stop pulling on each other's feathers. Bath time is another way to keep boredom down. Just make sure the water is warm and if they haven't been in the tub yet start them off with the water just up to the tops of their legs. Then gradually make it deeper. Always stay with them and watch for them tiring out, get them out dry them and place them in a warm brooder. Make sure your brooder isn't too warm at 2 weeks they can be at temps around 80 maybe even slightly cooler since they are Pekins and seem to overheat. And because Pekins grow so fast I'd switch from brewers yeast to nutritional yeast 1 Tab per cup of feed every day until at least 10 weeks old.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutritional-yeast-vs-brewers-yeast.1393856/

Ok thank you very much I will switch to nutritional yeast. And I have a heat lamp on them in a large cage right now we had them in a big pen but one of them squeezed out because they were so small I walked in just in time to catch the grand escape. I will switch back to the pen today. I gave them their first bath yesterday they really enjoyed it. It’s still been pretty cold where I am so I haven’t been able to take them out. I’ll try to let them run around the room today as well see if that helps. Thank you very much for the advice

 

[Miss Lydia]

I hope it helps, you know how toddlers can get into all kinds of trouble when bored same with ducklings just toddlers with feathers, lol.

 

[Corinne23]

I hope it helps, you know how toddlers can get into all kinds of trouble when bored same with ducklings just toddlers with feathers, lol.

Lol I made the pen bigger it seemed to help so far I let them take a bath and it was kind of nice out we let them run in the yard until me khaki campbells got too worked up in their pen. But they seem to like the new set up and aren’t bitting as much and they aren’t on top of each other as much.