Duck is limping with no plausible cause?

[Goosifer]

This duck is 6 weeks old. One day I walked out and noticed she was not drinking or eating. When I picked her up she was very light compared to her hatch mates. After a couple days she began eating and drinking, but now limps around. I felt her leg and joints and nothing is broken or out of place. She seems fine in every other way. It almost feels like the mucle mass on the one leg is much lower than the other leg. does anyone know what could be wrong? I am hoping she gets better but i don't want her to have a bad quality of life.

 

[Kevin565]

. Has she been given Niacin supplements?

 

[Goosifer]

No, is that something I can buy from the feed store?

 

[Kevin565]

You can find it in the vitamin section of most stores like Walmart.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i assume you have checked her for bumble foot or any injury to the bottom of the foot. The other thing you may want to do is get a fecal test for her. If she's thin she could have worms or coccidiosis.

We had been having issues with temporary lameness until i read that ducks need the extra nicacin, so now we use Brewers Yeast. i dump two heaping tablespoons on top of their peas every day. It's easy to use and the ducks love it. So you may want to try that in any case.

 

[Goosifer]

I found some niacin, going to put it in her water. Hopefully that helps. I have checked her foot and examined her closely. I even did a little research of the niacin deficiency. I'm pretty confident thats whats wrong. I'll let you all know thank you

 

[Kevin565]

Hope she makes a full recovery

 

[DuckLady]

One thing that might have happened too is that she got stampeded and injured slightly by the others and either from some pain or because the others didn't let her, she wasn't able to get to the food dish enough.

I have a lame duck right now that I make sure to give him plenty of time to eat his fill without the others around.

 

[greenjean]

check for bumblefoot , my male had it, small cut on bottom of foot, can get infected, and you usually see black spots, and possible lump, used neosporin, and benadine, and wrap the foot for about a week, changing dressing everyday, he got better, so if you see black spot on cut, give it a try, hope all goes well

 

[70%cocoa]

I had a duckling last year that did not develop the same muscle mass on one leg/thigh as she did on the other. On the right leg she was quite bony, but normal on the left. She had had trouble hatching. Her problem was not related to her diet as she had a funny leg from the moment she was hatched. She was bit prone to injuring her 'weak' side (straining her leg) just through extra clumsiness. She also put most of her weight on her good side (which you could tell because the callouses on her feet were slightly bigger on the 'good' side). Swimming was good exercise for her and helped to build up her weak leg.

So, perhaps your duck just has the same kind of thing. She may have a weak side that she has injured temporarily. Improving the nurtitional intake won't hurt though. Quiet time to heal, and swimming time, would also be good.