Duck not able to walk

[Clairel70]

Morning all we are first time duck owners and have two beautiful cherry valley ducks approx 6 weeks old. Until yesterday all was going well but one has suddenly stopped walking. She can put weight on one leg for a few seconds then plops to the ground and drags herself along. She is eating and drinking if it is close enough but also seems a lot smaller than the other one - any help or advice greatly appreciated as we are very worried about her. Thank you!

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Hi Claire and congrats on the ducklings !

Here come the questions !

1. What are you feeding them and are you adding niacin in
2. Have you checked the affected leg for any signs of an injury

 

[Clairel70]

Hi thank you for replying! They are eating some growers pellets and no niacin!! I have ordered some to arrive tomorrow- naively we assumed it would be in the mix but it’s not!
No obvious trauma or injury to her leg.
I held her in a pool of water just now and she is moving it quite freely in there
Is this normal? What is confusing us is that the other one is perfect! We just want to get things right.

 

[Isaac 0]

Could you take a video of her trying to walk, upload it to a video platform like Youtube or Vimeo, and copy/paste the link here?

 

[Clairel70]

I’ll try - not very technical!!

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Ah okies - I had the same issue if that helps !

Have a look at this link and see if any if looks like your bird:

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

As soon as you get that niacin, get it in all of them !

 

[Clairel70]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0MbzxSrcQ2Jx57LQEr9nMEsoA
Does this work?

 

[Clairel70]

Not sure it does actually!! Sorry!!

 

[Clairel70]

Ah okies - I had the same issue if that helps !

Have a look at this link and see if any if looks like your bird:

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

As soon as you get that niacin, get it in all of them !

How soon does the niacin kick in?? Do we need to rest her or do anything special for her? She’s enjoying lots of cuddles today - is this ok?

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Who doesnt love a cuddle ??!

I would probably put the two of them in a contained area if you have it so your ducky rests that leg and doesnt stress themselves out by trying to keep up or run away from something.

The niacin can take anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks - the important thing is consistency.

Have you read the sticky about adding Nutritional or Brewers Yeast to their food ? Might be something to think about moving forward.

Keeping it all crossed for your little one !