Adult duck keeps flipping to back

[CallDuckMama]

My 5 month old female, call duck keeps rolling onto her back and cannot roll back over. I started to notice one of the males picking on her so I separated her from the flock. She’s not eating very much of anything. She drinks some. I thought she was doing better yesterday, but I get home from work today and she’s flipped over and not moving. She just looks around. Her legs seem splayed out and weak when she is upright. I had her swim some yesterday and she did enjoy it and she did move her feet….one foot more than the other. She will also raise her backside way up in the air until she rolls forward. Any ideas? I’m giving her duck food that includes the recommended niacin and have been giving her one of the vitamin enhancers in her water.

 

[Jenbirdee]

My 5 month old female, call duck keeps rolling onto her back and cannot roll back over. I started to notice one of the males picking on her so I separated her from the flock. She’s not eating very much of anything. She drinks some. I thought she was doing better yesterday, but I get home from work today and she’s flipped over and not moving. She just looks around. Her legs seem splayed out and weak when she is upright. I had her swim some yesterday and she did enjoy it and she did move her feet….one foot more than the other. She will also raise her backside way up in the air until she rolls forward. Any ideas? I’m giving her duck food that includes the recommended niacin and have been giving her one of the vitamin enhancers in her water.

the “recommended amount” of niacin in the duck feed is not enough when a duck is having leg issues. i would start her right away on one ML per day of liquid vitamin B complex durvet brand, they sell it at Feed stores such as tractor supply and you can also get it online. It says on the bottle that it’s injectable for cattle, but we give it orally to ducks. You can put it on a treat She likes such as mealworms.
you may also want to make hobbles for her to keep her legs from splaying out, but I’ve never heard of doing it for a five month old only for very young ducklings or chicks so I’m going to tag an expert and see what she says @Miss Lydia

 

[CallDuckMama]

the “recommended amount” of niacin in the duck feed is not enough when a duck is having leg issues. i would start her right away on one ML per day of liquid vitamin B complex durvet brand, they sell it at Feed stores such as tractor supply and you can also get it online. It says on the bottle that it’s injectable for cattle, but we give it orally to ducks. You can put it on a treat She likes such as mealworms.
you may also want to make hobbles for her to keep her legs from splaying out, but I’ve never heard of doing it for a five month old only for very young ducklings or chicks so I’m going to tag an expert and see what she says @Miss Lydia

Thank you so much for this advice!

 

[Miss Lydia]

the “recommended amount” of niacin in the duck feed is not enough when a duck is having leg issues. i would start her right away on one ML per day of liquid vitamin B complex durvet brand, they sell it at Feed stores such as tractor supply and you can also get it online. It says on the bottle that it’s injectable for cattle, but we give it orally to ducks. You can put it on a treat She likes such as mealworms.
you may also want to make hobbles for her to keep her legs from splaying out, but I’ve never heard of doing it for a five month old only for very young ducklings or chicks so I’m going to tag an expert and see what she says @Miss Lydia

I am going to tag @CoriM to me she is expert on hobbling and older duckling.
I agree with @Jenbirdee on getting your little call on the Liquid B Complex ASAP.

 

[CoriM]

I'm not sure what's going on with your baby, it sounds like something more possibly, but I did have a pekin who developed splay leg and I used the liquid vitamin B complex and hobbled her for several weeks until her legs strengthened. To make the hobbles I wrapped each leg with a wrap of 1 inch vet wrap, then had someone hold her up and I used a larger loop of vet wrap to pull her legs into proper position. I left these on all the time, and put fresh ones on after she swam, which was good for leg strengthening. Here is a photo of her in the hobbles.

 

[CallDuckMama]

Thank you for these responses…I will begin the Vitamin B Complex today. I have been giving her swim time each day and putting her in a small shoe box to keep her upright. If I don’t, she is constantly on her back. However, she won’t stay in the box. She jumps out and then flips on her back. It’s so sad.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Will she eat good? if so take something she really loves maybe a small amount of mealworms and put the b complex over it so you know she is getting her full dose. If she isn't eating well then the best way to give it is by mouth
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

when you let her swim does she stay upright? I sure wouldn't leave her alone in the water in case she flips.
Another thing is making a towel into a donut shape and placing her feet first down into it putting food and water close this might keep her from flipping.

 

[CoriM]

I hope the vitamin B complex works for your poor duck. I did a quick search of threads and found two mentions of rimerella infection as a possible cause and also extreme niacin deficiency, which would seem odd if you've been feeding duck feed with niacin since she was a baby. Hopefully you'll be able to turn this around...sounds like she'll need a lot of supervision for now. Keep us updated.

 

[CallDuckMama]

I'm not sure what's going on with your baby, it sounds like something more possibly, but I did have a pekin who developed splay leg and I used the liquid vitamin B complex and hobbled her for several weeks until her legs strengthened. To make the hobbles I wrapped each leg with a wrap of 1 inch vet wrap, then had someone hold her up and I used a larger loop of vet wrap to pull her legs into proper position. I left these on all the time, and put fresh ones on after she swam, which was good for leg strengthening. Here is a photo of her in the hobbles.

So she had her swim therapy and I have her (Dragonfly is her name.) in hobbles. It’s helping her to stay righted but only if I have her in a small space like a narrow box. I’m trying the donut shaped towel and I keep placing her feet under her. I also gave her as much of the dose of B Complex as I could by putting it on her meal worms but had to put it in her water because she wasn’t eating them out of her feed dish. She wants to go roam the yard so bad but she just can’t.

 

[CallDuckMama]

Oh one more thing that’s new tonight is that she isn’t opening her bill very much. She is drinking and I put her grain in her water to make it soft for her. She did eat a few meal worms. When she quacks though, she isn’t opening her mouth hardly at all.