4 ducklings hatched without eyes?!?

[Pyxis]

I'm really on the fense about altering the diet. I've used the same feed for chicks and ducklings in the past and never ran into this problem. The two muscovys that have the angel wing are brother and sister. On the female her left wing is affected and on the male both wings are affected.

As with all animals, the exact nutritional needs of every individual vary. Could be that those two simply needed less calories/protein/etc, so the feed made them grow too rapidly whereas everyone else was fine on the same feed. And that's also where the genetic component, if there is one, might come into play. If they had different nutritional needs, they might pass those same needs to their offspring. Or maybe not.

Or maybe they overate and caused the rapid growth that way.

I raised a lot of ducklings on the same feed that the mallard that got angel wing was raised on, and they were all fine. He simply might have had different nutritional needs than all of them, and that's what caused it, or he might have overeaten.

I would say if the feed is working fine for all your other ducks, you probably don't need to switch it.

Here is a very interesting article about angel wing: http://www.metzerfarms.com/AngelWing.cfm

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The information you gave for the eyes is basically what others have also come across.

I've found the same stuff about the angel wing. It's a toss up to alter their food or not? I've always used the same feed for past chicks and ducks and never had a problem so I don't see why it would be the protein

Yes, I went back and read... I'm an attention to detail type person.

I don't think I saw the same link that I provided which is a REALLY good resource also.

Happy to see my thought process/studies is inline with the experience of Pyxis, I don't just pull things our of thin air.

 

[casportpony]

You won't know till older If crosses

Won't know what? If it's purebred?

 

[casportpony]

This is interesting:
http://www.muscovyduckcentral.com/witt_farms/somethoughtsonslippedwing.html

 

[ChickenCanoe]

??

Ducklings won't suddenly grow eyes. They are one of the most precocial species of bird having good eyesight from hatching. No eyes means they aren't normal.

I'm really on the fense about altering the diet. I've used the same feed for chicks and ducklings in the past and never ran into this problem. The two muscovys that have the angel wing are brother and sister. On the female her left wing is affected and on the male both wings are affected.

Don't be too resistant to changing feedstuffs. Chickens and ducks are quite different in their nutritional requirements. Different species, different needs. You've been lucky to this point.
Food for thought.
Duck and geese nutrition requirements.
http://www.metzerfarms.com/NutritionalRequirements.cfm?affiliate=undef&CustID=21988690
Chicken nutrition.
http://www.poultryhub.org/nutrition...nutrient-requirements-of-egg-laying-chickens/
https://extension2.missouri.edu/g8352

 

[casportpony]

Mama is mostly brown and my two male muscovys are both mostly black

Can you post pictures of them?

 

[Kiki]

OP..what feed do you use now?

 

[casportpony]

This link also has some good info:
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/angelwing.html

 

[casportpony]

@KikisGirls and other that excell in searching the WWW (lol), I think I remember reading that angel wing is more common is Muscovy ducks than it is in other ducks. Any of you wanna try to find a credible source that says that? Please?

 

[Kiki]

@KikisGirls and other that excell in searching the WWW (lol), I think I remember reading that angel wing is more common is Muscovy ducks than it is in other ducks. Any of you wanna try to find a credible source that says that? Please?

On it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4852259/
eta.
http://www.muscovyduckcentral.com/witt_farms/somethoughtsonslippedwing.html