Congenital duckling condition?

[ajafrique]

Hi all! I'm raising my first little crew of 10 ducklings and am excited to finally take part in the forum.

Just wondered if anyone has suggestions for how to care for my troubled Sweet Emily duckling, Dora. She arrived with the others from McMurray 3 weeks ago. She seemed perky (tried to jump out of the box when I opened it) and normal when she arrived other than a dent in the side of her bill, but as she's grown we've started to notice some issues:

a) She's very pidgeon-toed. I noticed that when she walks to get food and water, she steps on her own feet. I read other advice suggesting Brewer's Yeast supplements, so she's been getting ~1 tsp/day for about a week. I also have her doing short, supervised swim therapy to build muscle because she spends most of her time lying in a corner of the cage. She swims beautifully and seems to enjoy finally having freedom of movement in the water. Some articles I read said to wait trying a hobble until a duckling is older because the problem may resolve itself as a duckling grows. Any thoughts?

b) I think she has almost no vision. Her eyes have always seemed a little "different"--bluish (rather than gold/brown) with a pink rim.

c) She sleeps a lot more than the others. Maybe it's because she spends most of her day just lying on clean straw under a warm light instead of running around and splashing water out of the trays like the others. When you look at her, she looks old and weary, rather than young and spunky.

d) She sometimes pants (but doesn't move away from the light as if she is too warm) and sounds like she has a stuffy nose. I try to offer her some water to wet her nostrils when I see it--sometimes she submerges her nostrils for several seconds and other times she just ignores it)

I don't know if this is important or not, but...she was yellow when she arrived but the down/feathers on the rear half very quickly turned white (I don't know if that is normal for SEs, but my Pekins are still almost completely yellow).

Any ideas for how to help her? Any recommendations for duck vets in NJ would be welcome, too.

Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

A vet is probably the best help. Here is a page listing vets and making suggestions for selecting one.

http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/vetfindermw.htm

If she has an infection, she will need some medicine right away.

I would also give her sav-a-chick or gro-gel right away.

The leg problem doesn't sound that unusual. Some multi vitamins once a week ought not to hurt and may help.

 

[ajafrique]

Thanks! I've made an appointment for her with a vet from the website you shared.

 

[ajafrique]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions and support. The vet put her on antibiotics for bacterial infection of the lung system. She has responded well--breathing is normal now, she has much more stamina, and has more appetite.

Her legs are still turned in, but she can walk without stepping on her own feet so much. Her eyesight is still poor, but she's adapting to it. She uses sound very well to orient herself and follow the others, and we try to keep food & water in fairly consistent locations. The rest of the group look out for her, especially the big Pekin male, so I think she'll do fine.

 

[Amiga]