Very strange duck injury! Please advise!

[SilverFire5467]

Hello, I'm in my first year of raising ducks but have run into a strange problem. I have a 8 week old pekin female that in the span of a day lost all the feathers on her belly, can't stand, and is gasping. Her legs move but she has zero strength or balance. She also won't eat anything but does take in water. We found her in the duck kiddy pool stuck on her side and her feathers plucked out. I was worried she had gone into shock with hypothermia because the water was only a few hours old. So we took her in, put a warm blanket and a heat pad on her for the night. It has now been 48 hours and she hasn't improved. She's been in the house with food and water.

She was outside in an electric fence with chickens, young turkeys and 6 other ducks her age (pekins and khakis). From what I can tell I have two drakes that haven't shown any aggressive behavior. My other birds leave the ducks alone since the pekins are huge. They get fed all flock feed with brewers yeast suppliment.

I've settled on the fact we probably will have to put her down but we still want to solve this mystery because it was so sudden and I can't find anything online to lead me to a reason. We watch and check our birds throughout the day so there's no way bullying like this would have gone unnoticed. She had a full body of feathers and when we found her hours later she was literally bald and bleeding from her tail to her chest. The theory we have right now is she had a seizure and the other ducks attacked her during it. But I want to see if anyone has any other ideas.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Pekin need a *lot* more niacin. This is the most likely cause of the problem, except the feathers which I think probably got plucked by one of the duckling's friends as it was incapacitated.

The other thing I think it could be is poisoning. Even the most innocuous thing could be responsible for that. One of our members had a duck swallow a penny.

For the Niacin, try to get some Durvet Vitamin B Complex at TSC. It's labeled as injection for bovine, but is given at 1 ml directly to the duck on treats, or in the bill if she isn't eating.

For poisoning, try feeding activated charcoal mixed with water. It absorbs the poison.

Please let us know how the duckling is doing!

 

[SilverFire5467]

Pekin need a *lot* more niacin. This is the most likely cause of the problem, except the feathers which I think probably got plucked by one of the duckling's friends as it was incapacitated.

The other thing I think it could be is poisoning. Even the most innocuous thing could be responsible for that. One of our members had a duck swallow a penny.

For the Niacin, try to get some Durvet Vitamin B Complex at TSC. It's labeled as injection for bovine, but is given at 1 ml directly to the duck on treats, or in the bill if she isn't eating.

For poisoning, try feeding activated charcoal mixed with water. It absorbs the poison.

Please let us know how the duckling is doing!

Do you just feed your ducks this vitamin supplement on treats their whole lives? I've struggled to understand what amount exactly I'm supose to aim for with the niacin since most threads just say brewers yeast or use water Fowl feed (which isn't sold near me). The bags of all flock feed don't even say an amount for the vitamin so I thought the brewers yeast would be enough to cover for it. Thankyou so much for your advise, ill pick up the liquid tomorrow.

 

[Canadian Wind]

You are very welcome!

Check out these two threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutritional-yeast-vs-brewers-yeast.1393856/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

For Pekin, they will most likely be on it for the rest of their lives. They were bred for meat, not for longevity unfortunately, so their nutritional needs are different. From my understanding, a bit of *nutritional* yeast sprinkled on the food a few times a week should be sufficient.

With my mixed flock (chickens, ducks, and Muscovy which is a different species) I try to feed a duck-specific formula. Hasn't hurt the chickens. I haven't found the need for niacin supplementation, but mine aren't Pekin.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When one is where your Pekin is the liquid b complex is the best to use. Brewers yeast may not even have niacin in it read the label. I' wait to decide to put her down unto she has been on the liquid b complex at least a week. What she has been through was very tramatic so give her time to recover, poor baby. If she likes dried meal worms you maybe able to get her to take the 1ml of Liquid b Complex that way if not you can give it by mouth.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutritional-yeast-vs-brewers-yeast.1393856/

 

[Canadian Wind]

When one is where your Pekin is the liquid b complex is the best to use. Brewers yeast may not even have niacin in it read the label. I' wait to decide to put her down unto she has been on the liquid b complex at least a week. What she has been through was very tramatic so give her time to recover, poor baby. If she likes dried meal worms you maybe able to get her to take the 1ml of Liquid b Complex that way if not you can give it by mouth.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nutritional-yeast-vs-brewers-yeast.1393856/View attachment 3522548

Great minds think alike. And in this case, I was copying the advice you give out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sorry didn't mean to butt in.
@SilverFire5467 here is another way to give the liquid B
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Please keep us updated on how she is doing.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Sorry didn't mean to butt in.
@SilverFire5467 here is another way to give the liquid B
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Please keep us updated on how she is doing.

You weren't! I trust anything you say much more than what I do!

 

[SilverFire5467]

Sorry didn't mean to butt in.
@SilverFire5467 here is another way to give the liquid B
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Please keep us updated on how she is doing.

I appreciate all the wisdom! I'll try the treats and liquid, hopefully she'll eat them! Keep you posted!

 

[SilverFire5467]

Sadly we had to put those duck down, she refused all forms of food and we felt it was more humane to put her out of her misery that watch her starve and deteriorate. Thankyou for all your help and advise, we are happy the report the rest of the duck flock has had no issues since, so this was most likely some kind of neuro issue.