Call duckling seems to be having problems...

[ducklover15]

My 4 little calls are 2 days old now and the 2 smaller ones have perked up and look amazing! =]

The first duckling to hatch acts sort of strange though. It walks very bowl-legged and seems to kind of walk on its tippy-toes. It pushes most of its weight forward when it walks. It also has a tendency to fall forward on its face...

It also seems to be having a pooping problem. Poop gets stuck to its behind very easily and I have to clean it up every few hours. It seems to strain as it poops too. It'll peep loudly and very little poop will come out... It's eating, drinking and playing somewhat normally. It doesn't really like getting up and running as much as the others do. But I think that has to do with how it walks.

Any ideas?

 

[duckluck]

See my post here on retained meconium, and what I had to do:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=485212

I'd give it the treatment of dipping the bill twice a day in the Enfamil infant vitamins (without added iron) for a few days and also add a few drops of apple cider vinegar with the "mother" still in it (like organic apple cider vinegar) to the drinking water as a tonic. The vitamins should help with any possible lack of B vitamins and they should help the poop along too, as should the tonic. Ducklings are notorious for needing extra B vitamins, so you may want to consider adding some brewers' yeast to the feed, or dried kelp if you can get that.

 

[ducklover15]

Thanks so much!

I'll get some of that today. =]

I do have a question about helping the hard waste out. Can you feel it as your stroking the duckling's belly? How do you know the duckling is clear?

 

[ducklover15]

And one last question. How much apple cider vinegar do I add to the drinking water?

 

[ducklover15]

Anyone?

The belly is starting to get bloated....

((