my muscovy duckling has really weak legs?

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sydney13

sydney13

Songster
Mar 11, 2010
1,364
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204
Massachusetts
i recently picked up a 1 month old white muscovy duck. im pretty sure she is a she because i picked out the smallest duck and they were all the same ages. the duck seems to have weak legs and sometimes they get pretty far apart. any one else have this problem with their legs? is their something i can do and should i give more protein? is this just a stage muscovies are supposed to go though?
im pretty sure she was never raised on any commercial food and was left to forage on her own. basically all she's done since ive brought her home is eat the chicken feed ive got for her. ive moistened it because i read thats what you should do when they have had restricted feed so they don't get crop bound. she basically only walks to the food and then to the water and then will sit down and rest. it reminds me of a cornishX because keeps stuffing her self with food and doesn't have much energy to walk. she does seem to like the kiddie pool ive got for her and she has been swimming a lot in it. she is really afraid of humans and also avoids my goose and chickens. i was hoping she would imprint on either the goose or me. do you think a 1 month old will still imprint on someone else after she was separated from the mother?
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This sounds like a deficiency in Niacin. You can get niacin in the vitamin isle at Walmart. Mix 100mg per 1 gallon of water. You may also want to get a bottle of pedialyte without iron from the baby department and mix it into that. The electrolytes in that will also help. You should see improvement within a few days. Feeding some plain yogurt is also a good idea because of the beneficial bacteria in it. It is best to buy a powder mix from the feed store that contains vitamins, electrolytes, and probiotics. Here is a good product to order.

Start hand feeding peas to her, that will make her your best friend.
 
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I have also heard of leg problems being a vitamin B deficiency. You can get vitamin b complex, injectible for livestock, for very inexpensive at TSC or other farm stores. You can just mix it with water, though. I think I've used it at 5cc per gallon of water. I usually also mix vitamin/mineral/electrolyte powder in chick waterers to prevent leg weaknesses - Vi-Tal is one brand that I like, though Jeffers sells some vitamin/electrolyte pouches in their catalog, and I'm sure you can find them at TSC (by the calf electrolytes).
 
Niacin is actually vitamin B3. It is water soluble so it should get absorbed rather quickly. Ducks need a lot of it or they get weak legs etc. Just adding this should help, but I would add the other stuff too since there is a chance that more deficiencies exist at this point. Let see how this goes. Vitamin D3 may also be an issue when it comes to weak joints. Ducks can to get rubbery/bendable (in the wrong way) joints when this is lacking. This is not very common, but niacin deficiency is.
 
People give brewers yeast, because it contains niacin. Also duck food contains yeast, so I don't see any need for getting it. For now it would be best to just get niacin, because you can dose this better. Do not get the extended release version. Ideally would be capsules, but you may have to settle for tablets. The stores I went to usually had several brands to choose from.
 
my chickens and goose all drink from the same waterer the duck does. should i seperate them and have the duck drink the medicated water for now or is it fine if the other birds drink some?
 
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thanks for the advice everyone
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its been a few days and she is walking a lot more. before she would just walk from the pool to the feed but now she will walk all over our yard and is able to climb up the ramp to the coop.
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