Angel Wing - Too much protein? Or...

[Cottage Rose]

Keep in mind that ducklings tend to gorge themselves and can over eat so its reasonable to say if they're on too high protien that problems can develope.
I had a customer than bought 10 Muscovy ducklings from me and fed them the highest protein feed he could find thinking he was doing them a favor.
They all developed angel wing.
Siblings in my flock never have had any problems
until one year I fed a 22% feed too long (after 2 weeks you're suppose to add cracked corn to reduce the protein level) and some AW surfaced.
So I know for fact that too much protein can be a problem.
I have an article on AW by Bernard Shaw on my website worth reading.

 

[nettie]

wifezilla, as long as you feed your ducks the healthy diet you're planning, you ducks will do great! I wouldn't worry about angel wing at all... If a duck shows signs of it, a vet can help you fix it. I worry alot about angel wing and other diseases when i first got my ducks, now that i've had them for awhile, i don't really worry about that stuff any more.

 

[Wifezilla]

I am not too concerned since free ranging is part of my plan...but figured I should know about it if I am going to get ducks.

Might be checking out 3 adult runners this Saturday

Just waiting to hear back from the seller.

 

[nettie]

ooh congrats! how exciting.. please please please keep me updated on the diet!

 

[daraae921]

I am well aware of the nutritional needs of ducks(..and quite the snob about it at times, too)My birds have always been given the proper levels of protien. I had seen several ducks with angel wing over the years, and every time I rudely thought to myself, "they need to take better care of their animals."

I had never had one with angel wing... until this year. He was given the same feed as the rest of the ducklings and out of seven, he was the only one. So now not only am I a snobby jerk, but I'm a snobby jerk who needs to take better care of her animals!

We secured his wing duct (duck..) tape and it grew in just fine. You just have to wrap them up while they're still growing. It was no big deal.

 

[DuckyBoys]

There is no way that my ONE duck out of like 20 ate anything different than the other 19, yet got angelwing, and while there may be cases of too much protein being the problem, that was not the case with my little duck. She was born with a club foot and was the only one who developed the disorder.

I can say with 100% certainty that her problem was 100% genetic.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

my ducks are big now, born beginning of september. They love to beat my dog down and eat her dog food. I assume that dogfood has a lot of protein... are they at risk?

 

[Cottage Rose]

Very possible.

 

[ksacres]

Further proof of this is from another article that said "If their wings start drooping they are put on a diet of alfalfa pellets (instead of Chick Growena) until the condition clears up.""

Alfalfa pellets top out at 16% protien, that's lower than most "grower" poultry feeds.​

 

[Wifezilla]

Great info people.

I would love to do an experiment to really find out if it is the protein or the carbs. In the case of the alfalfa, it might be lower in protein, but it also contains very few carbs. They are changing 2 variables at the same time.