Duck issues...

[Peaceful Chick]

Hello All! I've had chickens for many years now but recently we decided to try our hand at ducklings. I mean, how can you not...they're so sweet and cute.
We purchased 3 ducklings from Tractor Supply on the 5th of April and I assume they were just a few days old. To me, the untrained eye they looked just fine. As the weeks went past one of the ducklings began to develop an issue walking. We did some research and thought it was a Niacin deficiency so we increase the amount of Niacin given to this little one. The issue continues and the leg is completely useless.
We then thought maybe there was an infection going on because the joint was swollen and warm to the touch. We tried to phone about 15 veterinarians but we got the same message "we don't treat farm animals.". She's not a farm animal, she's a family pet. I did what any duck loving person would do, I attempted to treat her myself. I confirmed with my sister in law that amoxicillin was was not deadly to her and began to giver her about 1tsp a day for about a week. No change at all. We then tried VerRx on the leg to see if we could reduce the swelling with no luck again.
I've resolved that the leg must have been broke at some point in time as a baby and we didn't notice it. She now walks on her Patella instead of her ankle and has been getting around quite well. She adapted quite quickly and uses her tail to balance.
We now notice that she has a kink in her neck and has not been preening herself with her oil. When the other ducks take a swim, she sits out. If we put her in the water she can not repel any of the water and is just soaked coming out. She like the water but unless we dry her off she can not go in. We are going to wash her in Dawn today as I read in another thread but wanted to know if there is anything else we can do for this sweet little girl.
She is on chic freed mixed with duck feed, fresh vegetables and free ranges in our yard. She does not stay outside in the coop with her sisters and our chickens, she is more of a house duck and sleeps in the garage. (We are afraid she could not get away if one of our older chickens try to peck her. ) She is still much smaller than the other two ducks by 50% at least. She was the runt of the three and still is.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. We are not ready to cull her, that will be our absolute last resort if there is no way to help her. At this point, she is eating, drinking and able to get around.
Thank you in advance

 

[IvysAnimals]

How old is she? Are they walking around a lot so they don't get pigeon toed? Do they live outside or inside or walk on hard surfaces? It looks like something might've moved / broke / or is an infection in her leg... If she's over 2 weeks of age, she should be getting a diet of an adult duck, which is what she would need. If she's still getting a chick starter type feed, that's probably the reason why in some way that her feet are more prone to getting hurt or why she might've hurt it..Hope that helps!

 

[Quatie]

What did you do to increase your naicin? Just from the picture it looks like she is a Pekin and they require more naicin than other ducks. Sometimes one individual duck requires even more than the rest.

From everything here, it sounds like she is not getting enough nutrients, and is now developing wry neck. Do you know exactly how much she eats? She should be eating close to about 0.4 lbs of food everyday now.

 

[Peaceful Chick]

How old is she? Are they walking around a lot so they don't get pigeon toed? Do they live outside or inside or walk on hard surfaces? It looks like something might've moved / broke / or is an infection in her leg... If she's over 2 weeks of age, she should be getting a diet of an adult duck, which is what she would need. If she's still getting a chick starter type feed, that's probably the reason why in some way...

She is 2 months old now and we were giving her both starter and duck together. She sleeps inside a dog igloo in our attached garage but we take her out to her sister each morning after we feed and water her to make sure she is getting enough food.
She spends her day out in the grass of our back yard. I'll try to upload a video of her walking. I can't figure out how to upload the video.

 

[Peaceful Chick]

You are correct, she is a Pekin duck. I am not entirely sure how much she is eating but I will defiantly weigh out about a half pound and make sure she is getting enough. I doubt she's been eating that much. She will eat anything we put in front of her. We bought 500mg Niacin capsules that we open one and shake it into a 1 pt. container of duck feed. We then take a heaping spoonful of that and mix it with her daily food.
Maybe she is not getting enough. We didn't want to overload her even though I know its water soluble.

 

[Quatie]

I would recommend giving her vitamin b complex, which you can get at TSC. Give her a 1ml everyday. I would give it orally, but you can also put it on a treat. Here is how to give it orally.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/

Also, I would recommend getting rid of all the treats until your duck is doing better. I would also add herbs in for possible wry neck, and I might consider tube feeding to give her extra nutrients.

Here is on the herbs you can give
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wry-neck-causes-treatment-and-prevention.67732/

 

[Peaceful Chick]

Thank you, I'll definitely try that today. We don't really give her treats unless you mean fresh vegetables and blueberries. Would you suggest pausing the fresh foods also?

 

[Quatie]

Thank you, I'll definitely try that today. We don't really give her treats unless you mean fresh vegetables and blueberries. Would you suggest pausing the fresh foods also?

So anything that is not pellets is considered a treat. I would recommend stopping the fruits and veggies because if the duck eats loads of fruits and veggies it could be not getting enough protein or other vitamins that it needs. Until you understand what is going on, it is best to restrict to pellets where the nutrients should be fairly balanced.

 

[Peaceful Chick]

Gotcha, thanks! We'll give it a try!

 

[Quatie]

A wanted to add a couple more things. With ducks and legs, swim therapy is a great way to strengthen them. You will want to be careful depending on how well your duck can hold itself up. You may end up needing to wait till it is stronger and it may take a while before you see improvement with the naicin. But putting it in a deep bath where it can float and still kicks it's legs can be a great way to work them out and build strength in the legs with the stress off added weight. I would start slow with swim therapy, but it can help a lot.

Here is also some information on tube feeding. I wouldn't usually recommend it if they are eating, but I would definitely get the supplies and have them on hand. The supplies are not always the easiest to find and when you need them, you often need them quickly.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-guide-pictures-under-construction.1064392/

The one reason I bring up tube feeding is, in my personal experience, I had a Pekin duck with a leg injury at like 5 weeks old. She ate a bit of food, but not enough. She eventually had a hard time holding her head up. We were unable to get supplies for tube feeding and lost her. So while your duck is eating, if it is not enough, it could need require this. If you do need to tube feed while your duck is eating, you should only likely need to do it as often with ducks who are not eating at all.

I am also going to tag @Miss Lydia on this, because she is also a great resource for issues like this.