6 day old Duckling not eating but drinking

[Frankiestein]

So I have about 15 new ducklings over the span of a week this duckling came out fine and was walking drinking water. I have noticed the 3 babies born at the same time are about 2x his size and growing eating and pigging out on food. This one is rather slow and always sleeping, standing or shuffles over to the water bowl and drinks and bathes in it. I have tried wetting the food and dipping the beak in it, dry crumbles. I have also used egg yolk and scrambled egg. He refuses to eat might lick a tiny crumb or 2 then shakes the rest off and washes his mouth. I am feeding them the mana pro duckling and gosling starter feed 22% protein. I have also added niacin and chick electrolyte powder to the water. Even desperately adding some table sugar to get something into him. His poo is also just clear and runny, already checked for pasty butt and let him swim around in a warm bath for a while.

So is there anything else I can try or do to hope he starts eating? Or fed him I haven't tried it yet but would plain unflavored whey protein powder in the water be ok, I also have bariatric whey with vitamins and minerals added as another option.

And thanks for the help/advice his name is Danny DuckVito

 

[Wicked Storm]

Poor guy. He might have to be tube fed to even get him to get enough nutrients. You’ve done good with those vitamins but the problem is getting them in him. Have you done any tube feeding before?

 

[Frankiestein]

I've tube fed a chicken before but this guy is so tiny I didn't want to aspirate him accidentally. Do they make tubes small enough? Or would a standard 10ml non needle syringe be ok with a fine puree mash?

 

[Wicked Storm]

I've tube fed a chicken before but this guy is so tiny I didn't want to aspirate him accidentally. Do they make tubes small enough? Or would a standard 10ml non needle syringe be ok with a fine puree mash?

Even just vitamins is enough to get him going, they also make a liquid emergency feed for emaciated birds, I think that would be better. Not sure that they make tubes small enough, you’d have to make one

 

[Frankiestein]

Even just vitamins is enough to get him going, they also make a liquid emergency feed for emaciated birds, I think that would be better. Not sure that they make tubes small enough, you’d have to make one

Ok I will try the exotic bird store in my metro to find the meds. I weighed him and he's only 41g. The birds born the same day as him are 130-150g. I had the last 2 hatch about 4 hours ago and they are about 50g each

 

[Wicked Storm]

Poor guy. He definitely needs care

 

[Frankiestein]

A little update. He started trying to eat crumble. Still having a hard time but its progress. I used some emergency parrot liquid feed/powder in the water dish for a day and still have a bit in there. He's managed to gain 5g and seems to be more energetic.

 

[picklestheduck]

A little update. He started trying to eat crumble. Still having a hard time but its progress. I used some emergency parrot liquid feed/powder in the water dish for a day and still have a bit in there. He's managed to gain 5g and seems to be more energetic.

Sorry your little fella isn’t doing so great! I had a duckling that had a lot of the same problems. I ended up gently holding him in my hand and prying his beak open and gently setting some scrambled egg with soaked crumbles mixed into it. I did this severa times a day for weeks. He finally started to pull through after a long hard working struggle. I’ll post the link here in a moment so you can read through the treatment I did for my duckling.

 

[picklestheduck]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sleepy-duckling-not-eating-much-help.1518463/

This is the thread with all the info on my duckling who was struggling

 

[Frankiestein]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sleepy-duckling-not-eating-much-help.1518463/

This is the thread with all the info on my duckling who was struggling

Thank you.