Bandy leg duckling

[Mollans]

I have a mandarin duckling who is about 2 and a half weeks old.

He spends a lot of time sat down and his big brother from another mother does normally steal the limelight.

We had them out earlier and introduced them to a few mealworms when we noticed the mandarin was talking with an inward turned foot. We have not noticed before.

I have added a few pics but am unable to upload the video

Any advice would be most welcome.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you give us info on what your feeding them an any supplements they are getting. Could this be from hatching an injury or possibly a niacin deficiency?

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

 

[Mollans]

Thank you for your replies. I found the niacin deficiency thread late last night and it seems to be the most likely.

I am in the UK and feed small holder range chick crumbs which show they are suitable for waterfowl too but there is no mention of B vitamins on the label. I have looked at the other alternatives here and they don't mention it either which makes life difficult.

I am going to re read the niacin deficiency thread again to see what I should be looking for with regards to additional b vitamin to add to his food.

 

[Mollans]

I have contacted Allen and Page who make the crumb. The chick starter crumb has 61mg/kg and the waterfowl crumb has 59 mg/kg

The growers which is the next one up has 40.7 mg/kg and the duck grower has 57 mg/kg

I had kind of hoped it would have been too low so that I could have changed the food to cure the problem if that makes sense

 

[Mollans]

Video of Peel the Mandarin

Here is the video of Peel

 

[Isaac 0]

Is a vet an option? I would be quite surprised to hear this is a Niacin Deficiency given that she is a Mandarin which is a Bantam breed that doesn't often suffer from these legs problems, they're also a perching type breed so their legs are built stronger as well. It would be worth trying supplementation regardless, just to rule it out as a possibility. When did her deformity become noticeable to you, right after hatch, or did she develop it a few days later , do you know what the parent stock of these birds look like?

 

[Mollans]

We had not noticed a problem until the last few days but then again it was the first time the mandarin had the opportunity to charge about on the floor. It has always been less busy than the runner.
The chick was hatched by someone locally from shipped eggs. She had a poor hatch rate and only 2 survived. One died at 2 days old leaving this one alone. We had a lone duckling hence the odd pairing.

I would like to try the niacin. For a few days before going to the vet as their knowledge up here is rather limited unless you are a sheep, highland cow or pet breeds like cats and dogs

 

[Isaac 0]

We had not noticed a problem until the last few days but then again it was the first time the mandarin had the opportunity to charge about on the floor. It has always been less busy than the runner.
The chick was hatched by someone locally from shipped eggs. She had a poor hatch rate and only 2 survived. One died at 2 days old leaving this one alone. We had a lone duckling hence the odd pairing.

I would like to try the niacin. For a few days before going to the vet as their knowledge up here is rather limited unless you are a sheep, highland cow or pet breeds like cats and dogs

What concerns me is you said she had a low hatch rate, which could mean she was either improperly turning them, the humidity or temp was off, or the eggs were jostled around too much, so the eggs that did hatch might have been deformed like yours. Maybe not, but there's the chance.

Go ahead and try the niacin, I would also switch her onto some more rough bedding, I see you're keeping her on the floor, that's way too slippery, towels would be a better substitute.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Where bouts are you @Mollans ?