2 month old baby ducks leg problems

[crazyducklady23]

Hello,

I recently had four Muscovy ducks hatch about 2 months ago and keep them currently in my garage in a metal horse water troff. They always have food (Chick starter/grower) and water to drink as well as a heat lamp. I will let them out to let them stretch their wings and legs and run around and go swimming in the little kiddy pool I have for my other adult ducks. Yesterday I let them in the pool for a little ran in the house to switch out laundry and when I came back out I noticed they all were out of the pool and that when one of them walked it would hobble. I never noticed this before and am not sure if this was from getting out of the pool or if there was something else wrong. The leg does not seem to be broken, I picked him up and felt his entire leg and he did not seem to show any type of pain or anything breaking or dislocated. I had him flex his toes around my finger and he did that just fine as well. I am not sure why he limps and will extend his leg out to walk rather it be more or less under his body. Could this be a result from not having a large enough area to run around in everyday? Should I move them to a larger pen that is in the chicken coop and just transfer the heat lamp, food, and water?? Any thoughts??


Thanks!

 

[IrelandEyes]

I am new to ducks myself, but my last hatch, my new mother duck did a terrible job so I had to get involved.

Here is what I noticed. What you need to watch for is that the duck doesn't get a splayed leg. You said it walks with one leg stiff, but make sure it doesn't eventually go to where the legs make them look like a version of doing the splits, and they can't walk. You will need to use a little brace (I used velcro) and after a couple days legs fine. If the leg develops into a splayed leg, you can do a search on this site and see all the creative braces people have come up with.

I might try a poultry drench of vitamins. I noticed duckies that I had with leg issues and even had one duck that had the tremors (I try not to blame mama duck) were fixed after one dose and a few ducks I saw results after a couple of days. It comes in a bottle with a dropper. I put it in their water bowl and for the bad ones I was worried about, I tried to give them some directly from dropper. I purchased my bottle of Poultry Drench at the local Tractor Supply Store. I always figured what could it hurt to try and the vitamin drench shocked me with such amazing results.

If you can move them to a larger pen, I don't see a downside--as long as they still have access to their heating lamp.

Wishing your duck a fast recovery!!!

 

[crazyducklady23]

Thank you for the reply! Do you know if ducks can get splayed leg even with being older like they are?

 

[IrelandEyes]

I wouldn't think you would have to worry about splayed leg at their age unless their current living quarters had slippery surfaces like tile etc.

I did find this site fascinating"

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

Hope it helps and do let me know how it goes!!!

 

[lomine]

I would also suggest some swim time in some warm water, not too hot. A couple times a day for a few days to see how it goes. He might get scared by himself so you might bring one of his buddies along so he doesn't get too stressed. It should help. Giving vitamins sounds like a good idea too, it certainly won't hurt.

At 2 months your ducklings should have all their feathers and should not need the heat lamp. My ducklings are just over 2 months and have been outside full-time for 2.5 weeks. I suggest you start reducing the heat in increments until it is close to your outside temperature. If they don't have all their feathers by now they might not be getting the right ratio of nutrients.

Have you been adding niacin to their food or water? There is not enough niacin in chick starter for ducklings so it needs to be added. It is important for good leg growth/health. I add it to my food in the form of brewer's yeast. Some people get a supplement and add it to the water. If you do a search on this site you will find lots of info on it. Before I moved mine outside, one of my ducklings was laying down a lot and could not walk for long distances. I made a few changes and one of them was increasing the niacin and now she has no problems. It sort of sounds like your duckling might have sprained something, so it's not the same as my situation, but they still need the extra niacin.

 

[crazyducklady23]

My ducks don't have all their feathers yet....they are close to it but not fully. I am definitely going to try the niacin in their water and food. After reading some of the posts it seems like they are not up to pair to where they need to be at their age. When I let them outside they run like crazy then they sit down like it almost tires them out immediately. Thank you for the help I am going to get them in the tub tonight for some warm relaxing swim time!

 

[lomine]

How is the little one doing today? Any improvement?

 

[crazyducklady23]

No improvement yet I have been watching it outside today walking and running around it looks like it's hip is bothering it. I went and got the niacin and vita drench and they have been on it for the past two days. I'm really hoping it starts working for the little guy cause I'm not sure what else to do.:/

 

[Miss Lydia]

No improvement yet I have been watching it outside today walking and running around it looks like it's hip is bothering it. I went and got the niacin and vita drench and they have been on it for the past two days. I'm really hoping it starts working for the little guy cause I'm not sure what else to do.

One thing you need to do is keep the one with the leg problem in a small area so it isn't running around try to keep up. When we have an injury or a problem walking best thing to do is give it time to heal by resting it. If a Niacin deficiency then it may take 5-7 days to see improvement but keep this one and a buddy in a small pen to give it the niacin time to work and the leg to heal. Warm soak in the tub with supervision can help build muscle and take pressure off of the leg for a while too. Water therapy is very good for them.

 

[IrelandEyes]

I had one duck with leg problems and I was so sad when they didn't get better fast. I really thought what am I going to do but Nician and Vitamin drench after a little over a week really did work . Don't give up yet!!!! You got this!!!