Duck health issue?

My wife and I have two Campbell khaki ducks that we raised from ducklings this year. They are nearly fully grown now. Today my Drake started acting strange. He acts like he's having trouble standing up and when he walks he just flops his feet under him. But he's mostly just sitting around now. Other than this he seems to feel fine. Eating and drinking as well. Any ideas on what could be wrong?

blacklab789 said:

My wife and I have two Campbell khaki ducks that we raised from ducklings this year. They are nearly fully grown now. Today my Drake started acting strange. He acts like he's having trouble standing up and when he walks he just flops his feet under him. But he's mostly just sitting around now. Other than this he seems to feel fine. Eating and drinking as well. Any ideas on what could be wrong?

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@blacklab789 Welcome to BYC

Is it possible he may have gotten into something toxic? what are you feeding? be sure to check for moldy feed too. Plants, metal, things like that can cause trouble

Did they have any niacin or brewers yeast as they were ducklings growing into adulthood? This is very important for leg health and brain health.

We give them medicated starter while they were ducklings for a good while. I think this might be respiratory. He has some raspy breathing this morning. I'm in the process of building a duck pond for them but in the meantime we take them from their pin and put them in a kiddy pool. Yesterday I was filling up the pool with a hose and he was playing in the water coming out of the hose. I'm wondering if he's breathed in some water and got pneumonia or something

blacklab789 said:

We give them medicated starter while they were ducklings for a good while. I think this might be respiratory. He has some raspy breathing this morning. I'm in the process of building a duck pond for them but in the meantime we take them from their pin and put them in a kiddy pool. Yesterday I was filling up the pool with a hose and he was playing in the water coming out of the hose. I'm wondering if he's breathed in some water and got pneumonia or something

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Medicated feed only protects from coccidosis it doesn't help with a niacin deficiency which can happen when we feed chick starter all water fowl need an adequate amt of niacin to have strong legs. So beside the respiratory issue which may require an antibiotic I'd start them on some form of niacin it has to be plain if you go for the pill or you can get Brewers yeast and sprinkle it over their feed. Or you can use a B complex but they need at least 125 meg of niacin per day from hatch till 10 weeks old if your are older they still can benefit from it. Especially if the are having trouble walking. If you think he could have gotten water down into his air sacs then a vet maybe your best course of action he/she can give a good look over and determine what the problem maybe. and give the proper meds to correct it.

Brewers yeast dose is 1 tab to 1 cup of feed
Both B complex and niacin tabs or cap. need to be crushed and mixed with 1 gal of water daily.

Thanks for the help! I purchased some niacin, B-12 and some antibiotics. Another question though. If I treat the water with antibiotics will I have to separate the ducks or will it be ok to keep them together

blacklab789 said:

Thanks for the help! I purchased some niacin, B-12 and some antibiotics. Another question though. If I treat the water with antibiotics will I have to separate the ducks or will it be ok to keep them together

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If the others aren't showing symptoms I wouldn't give antibiotics,if you can keep him separate but where they can all see each other that would be best.

Let us know how he is doing.

@blacklab789

Good news folks! He's up and moving around as good as ever. I gave him (and her) a couple of doses of niacin and b12 and he got better within a couple of days. Thanks for the help!

blacklab789 said:

Good news folks! He's up and moving around as good as ever. I gave him (and her) a couple of doses of niacin and b12 and he got better within a couple of days. Thanks for the help!

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That's awesome but I'd keep him on this schedule for a while just to make sure all is well.