7 Week Welsh Harlequin looks/walks wrong

[Salixx]

Title title says most of it. I noticed she was “off” about a week/week and a half ago. Her walk is more of a march with her tail down, she looks on the thin side to me and hasn’t seemed to develop proper oil glands that her sisters have.

I feed Nutrena all flock and started adding nutritional yeast when I first noticed things were off.

She’s active and eats fairly well but I’m worried about her.

Any thoughts on what might be going on?

https://imgur.com/a/aZ8DczM

 

[CoriM]

Oh dear, she definitely appears to be in trouble. Was she fed a starter diet for ducklings when she was first born? I'm not sure what the trouble is, but in case she is niacin deficient you should start her on liquid vitamin B complex as soon as possible - 1 ml over treats every single day until she strengthens. Is there a way you can keep her in a smallish area with some friends and keep a close eye on her as you try to discover what she needs?

 

[Salixx]

Oh dear, she definitely appears to be in trouble. Was she fed a starter diet for ducklings when she was first born? I'm not sure what the trouble is, but in case she is niacin deficient you should start her on liquid vitamin B complex as soon as possible - 1 ml over treats every single day until she strengthens. Is there a way you can keep her in a smallish area with some friends and keep a close eye on her as you try to discover what she needs?

She has been feed the all flock since day one - something I’ve fed all my baby ducks. I don’t remember the niacin content off the top of my head but it is above the recommended.

She has been in a Rubbermaid brooder until today with a younger KC up until today when everyone was getting too rambunctious for their brooders and went out with my older ducklings. That’s when I really noticed how bad she was.

I separated her for the night in a small dog carrier in my house so I could monitor her better. I know she’ll be lonely but I don’t want her fighting for food and want to monitor her intake a little better. Her poo so far has looked normal. I’ll have to see if I can get liquid niacin on my lunch break tomorrow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Please get her started on the liquid B complex TSC has. It will say injectable but we use it orally. The quicker you get her on it the quicker you can rule out niacin deficiency. Hopefully that is what it is though because they respond really well to the liquid B complex.
Also we aren't sure why even being fed a feed that has the right amount of niacin one will still come down with a deficiency but it happens quite often .

 

[Salixx]

Please get her started on the liquid B complex TSC has. It will say injectable but we use it orally. The quicker you get her on it the quicker you can rule out niacin deficiency. Hopefully that is what it is though because they respond really well to the liquid B complex.
Also we aren't sure why even being fed a feed that has the right amount of niacin one will still come down with a deficiency but it happens quite often .

Do you put it in their water or give directly? I work a long way from home tomorrow but may be able to get someone to grab and it put it in her water.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Don't put it in her water it will dilute it. Put it over a small amount of treat something she'll gobble right down.

 

[ruthhope]

She has been feed the all flock since day one - something I’ve fed all my baby ducks. I don’t remember the niacin content off the top of my head but it is above the recommended.

She has been in a Rubbermaid brooder until today with a younger KC up until today when everyone was getting too rambunctious for their brooders and went out with my older ducklings. That’s when I really noticed how bad she was.

I separated her for the night in a small dog carrier in my house so I could monitor her better. I know she’ll be lonely but I don’t want her fighting for food and want to monitor her intake a little better. Her poo so far has looked normal. I’ll have to see if I can get liquid niacin on my lunch break tomorrow.

Pls follow Miss Lydia's advice on giving her Durvet high level Vit B complex on a treat.
If she is too disturbed by being in isolation, you might bring another duckling in the house with her. Two would likely still fit in your brooder.

 

[Salixx]

I’m going to see if someone can pick up the B complex today. The nearest TSC to my work is 45 min and the one near my home doesn’t seem to have any in stock. There’s a Walgreens right by work though so I’ll pop in there to see if they have a niacin supplement. If nothing else, I’ll have to make a long detour home to get some from a different TSC.

She seems in good spirits this morning. She readily ate and drank for me and made a mess of my bathroom while I cleaned her carrier. I added extra nutritional yeast to her food and some duravet probiotic to her water as it has niacin in it. Her poo continues to look normal. Hopefully a B3 boost is all she needs.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I sure hope it is niacin def. They bounce back pretty quickly from that. If you get liquid B complex from a pharmacy for us humans you'll have to double the dose since it isn't as strong as the one for cattle. Have you checked other feed stores if you have them? we have 1 feed store here and they sell feed but not much else for our livestock. So I have to order online.

 

[Salixx]

I sure hope it is niacin def. They bounce back pretty quickly from that. If you get liquid B complex from a pharmacy for us humans you'll have to double the dose since it isn't as strong as the one for cattle. Have you checked other feed stores if you have them? we have 1 feed store here and they sell feed but not much else for our livestock. So I have to order online.

I only have one other feed store and they have less things than TSC.

Fortunately I was able to get some of the Durvet High Level Vitamin B Complex. I put 0.5ml of it on a small amount of moistened feed and she ate it up pretty well. I’m splitting the 1 ml recommendation up morning and night so she’ll get more in the AM.

Fingers crossed she gets better soon. She’s quite the character and deserves a full life.