Blue Swedish- failure to thrive?

[Rysktal]

My 4 blue swedish duckings are 3ish weeks old, I noticed around the 1 week mark one was smaller than the others. This morning she seems much smaller again compared to her siblings and she is mostly keeping her neck tucked in. She can stretch out if she wants to. She is behaving normally and I dont see any bullying.

I am feeding 19% chick grower with nutritional yeast, about a tablespoon per cup of food (My feed store doesnt have duck starter) and have 3 food/water set ups so everyone can eat peacefully. They also are outside eating bugs

(Shes easy to spot in the picture! 4 blue swedish and 10 rouen ducklings who are younger)

Is this a classic case of failure to thrive? Anything I can do?

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Sorry about your duckling, I do want to first address the neck issue, so the duckling is keeping it tucked in and canNOT psychically move it outwards, if so, that may mean the anterior neck muscles have become paralyzed, most often due to a deficiency in thiamine. With a thiamine deficiency most likely other symptoms would be present such as stunted growth, lack of appetite, ataxia, lethargy, or seizures (not subject to all). Any of those symptoms ring a bell?

A simpler explanation may just be she is a runt, perhaps lacking some vitamins, If she were mine I'd start her on a poultry vitamin like Nutri-Dench for a few weeks and see if she seems to do better, it may be a good idea to monitor her weight to ensure she is growing.

 

[Isaac 0]

I just see now you already answered my first question.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hi, there!

Just checking into see how your bird is doing. Updates to these threads are very useful for people in the future experiencing the same problem.

 

[Rysktal]

Updating this old post of mine. This little duckling ended up being MALE and grew up to be larger than the 3 other females. It just took him a while to catch up!