Stumbling Duck

[DuckyDonna]

I'm wondering now about something neurological. It doesn't appear that there is anything wrong with her legs from that picture. Maybe it is a genetic thing? @Isaac 0 can you help out here?

 

[dishfickle]

I'll get some tomorrow. I'm just baffled why it's just a couple, not all as far as a vitamin deficiency goes. My fawn has had this several times.

 

[dishfickle]

How do I give the charcoal?

 

[ChunkyBirb]

I’ll go to the store tomorrow and separate them from the flock. I’ll also call my vet and see what she thinks. She’s great with poultry. The reason I say genetics is because I’m not too sure about their background as far as inbreeding goes. I just bought the eggs and hatched them.

 

[ChunkyBirb]

How do I give the charcoal?

Probably just open the capsule and sprinkle it on their food.

 

[DuckyDonna]

If you're good at pushing pills down a duck's throat you can do that too. It's kinda a big capsule.

I’ll go to the store tomorrow and separate them from the flock. I’ll also call my vet and see what she thinks. She’s great with poultry. The reason I say genetics is because I’m not too sure about their background as far as inbreeding goes. I just bought the eggs and hatched them.

ducks can go for quite a few generations before anything happens as far as inbreeding I believe. Might be a good idea to check with the people you bought the eggs from though just because you want to have all the information you can get to try to solve this problem. You are so lucky to have a vet that sees poultry. They are few and far between around here.

 

[dishfickle]

I'm pretty sure I got them at murrey McMurray

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal.700526/ this link gives you info on how to use the activated charcoal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

As for only a few having the problems. Niacin deficiency can happen in 1 or 2 in a flock it has to do with how efficient they are at assimilating the niacin in their feed and evidently some don't do so well. So it's always better to start all ducklings on Nutritional yeast from hatch daily until at least 10 weeks of age especially if only feeding chick starter since it doesn't have enough niacin in it anyway for waterfowl. , Many of us continue even after they are grown. Even giving NY daily one can still show up with a deficiency that is when the liquid B complex is needed the most. 1ml over a tasty treat per duck has really helped many ducklings over come this.
Since none of us are vets all we can do is help by experience with our own flocks. A vet is always best.
A few years ago a member had most of her ducklings come down with n niacin deficiency and she read up and found Liquid B complex was worth trying. Her ducklings recovered quickly. That is another thing treating as soon as we see the problem.

 

[ChunkyBirb]

This is what I’ve given them

The Activated Charcoal was in capsules, so I opened one and sprinkled the contents onto their food. The B-Complex, however, was in pill form. I broke it in half and gave a half to both hens. It was kind of a lot of work to get it in them, but I did it.

I don’t have a cage with a floor that they can go in the garage in, but I had this pen and I set it up in the barn stall.
If I don’t see any improvement, I will probably take one to the vet to see if I can treat them and avoid the problem in the future (if possible).