duck on its back.

dklady

Hatching
6 Years
Sep 29, 2013
5
0
7
my duck cant walk and keeps flipping on its back or side. when I prop it back up I end up finding it on its back paddling its legs occasionally. it usually will rear up when I place it on its stomach and push itself upside down on its back. its not eating but will drink, not a lot though.
I want to give it nutritional support until I can find out what is going on with it. I have a sheep drench that has multiple vitamins and minerals in it along with iron and molasses. can I give it that? it is given by squirting it in the mouth. this seems like the best alternative since it wont voluntarily eat on its own.
 
I'm not an expert but this has happened to one of my ducks on 3 occasions and one of my geese. What I suspected was a parasite illness because my duck was very light weight when ever this would happen and everyone else in the flock was heavy and healthy . i just didnt notice because under her feathers i couldnt tell she had lost wieght . i treated her with dewormer ( a liquid you add to their water) and dusted her with poultry dust for parasites . The difference is mine would eat. After I treated her I would feed her as much as she wanted and in about 3 or 4 days she would bounce back. The first time this happened I didn't know what it was and took me about 2 says before I dusted and treated her with the dewormer and she was almost dead at that point so the next time it happened I was quick to treat her. Is your duck light weight? If not maybe she had a stroke.
 
well I wouldn't say it is real lightweight but it is somewhat most probably because it is not eating. but I never thought of worming it. Im new with ducks. what did you use as far as wormer? can I use strongid? panacur? what kind of worms do you think it is? there is a condition called riemerella or something like that that had some of the same symptoms. and youre supposed to give pcn I think. I did and it hasn't helped. ive also given b6 niacinamide (not sure if it is the same as niacin or not), and vit a without anything happening. I will try worming it and seeing what happens. thanks iambebabeba!
 
I just want to add that adding iron is not good for ducks. It will kill them. I don't know about molasses, though.

Also keep in mind that this stuff doesn't help immediately. When my duckling had a vitamin deficiency, it took a week before we were able to really notice a change, and another week before she was almost better. The vitamins have to build up in their systems.

Other than that, however, I can't help you at all. D: I have no idea what's wrong with your duck, but I hope that someone can help soon!
 
A bit of molasses may be okay, but a strong concentration of molasses is used to give a duck diarrhea if it has eaten something toxic.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal#post_9508213

I would suspect niacin deficiency, as it affects the nervous system. I would try 150 mg of niacin per gallon of water and keep it up for at least a month. It was easy for me to find niacin capsules that I could empty into water if needed. We have not needed to do so, but I wanted to be ready.

Others have a hard time finding anything other than the timed-release or no-flush tablets, and I don't think those work for ducks.

Brewer's yeast sprinkled on the food gives more niacin, but it is less precise dosage.
 
well I contacted someone who knew a lot about ducks and she is saying that it is most likely a virus or bacterial infex. that has gone to the brain. she said that when it gets that far the antibiotic if its a bacterial infex, most likely wont be able to cross the blood brain barrier.
she mentioned riemerella as a possible suspect or possibly even e coli. I will try more niacin though. it cant hurt! im also going to try another shot of pcn since I think I underdosed it the first shot. im going to call and talk to the vet who will have a better idea on what might be going on and how to treat it. when I find anything out I will be sure to post it. thanks
 
Thank you Amiga for your post! I was hoping you'd comment, since you're super knowledgeable about duck injuries and such.

I didn't know niacin deficiencies could cause neurological problems! Though I guess that makes sense, considering it does effect legs.
 
A bit of molasses may be okay, but a strong concentration of molasses is used to give a duck diarrhea if it has eaten something toxic.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700526/flushes-for-aiding-in-toxin-removal#post_9508213

I would suspect niacin deficiency, as it affects the nervous system. I would try 150 mg of niacin per gallon of water and keep it up for at least a month. It was easy for me to find niacin capsules that I could empty into water if needed. We have not needed to do so, but I wanted to be ready.

Others have a hard time finding anything other than the timed-release or no-flush tablets, and I don't think those work for ducks.

Brewer's yeast sprinkled on the food gives more niacin, but it is less precise dosage.

X2. If it continues to show neurological issues you may want to add in a complete Vitamin B complex in addition to the Niacin.


Have you checked the actual legs and feet to make sure there's no injuries to them?
 

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