Duck with Bumblefoot (Warning Viewer Discretion Is Advised)

[Miss Lydia]

I've heard that some of the really small ones catch up at a certain age. A lot of people say to feed them scrambled eggs, mealworms, and extra vitamins. I scrambled some eggs and put it in their food. I saw the little one perching on the baby cake, she wasn't eating it though.

Anything is worth a try just remember when you feed your ducklings or chicks anything other than their starter they need grit to process their food.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Why not ask if you can make a print out for them and then they can hand it out to all who buy chicks and water fowl from them. The learning center has all good info.

Right now that would be a brochure that pretty much says don't buy your fowl here. I don't think they would go for that, but perhaps an appeal to corporate to consider selling sexed fowl with the info would make them "stand apart". I could even note my current purchase from Metzer's the break down is:

Buff $5.85
Khaki Campbell $5.70
Pekin $5.36

Total Ducks: $16.91

3 x Sexing @ $1.98 = $5.94

Extra small order charge (2-5 birds) $35

Shipping $10.65

Total Cost: $68.50

Price / Bird: $22.83
----------------------------
Typical price per bird at feed stores $9

I would be crazy-happy to pay $13 per sexed bird (double the sexing charge) and have all shipping losses not be my problem.

I just wrote an email to Murdoch's corporate with pretty much the same info. And let them know if they did sell sexed birds, then distributing info on why customers would want sexed birds would be to their advantage and possibly make them a preferred feed store for purchasing poultry. I am guessing that larger farm purchases are called in and special ordered. They could always order in 100 straight run Pekins for example to sell to a farmer that is happy to cull excess drakes and put them on the table. But people buying less than 10 ducks would be getting their sexed ducks and the question "which is better", could start a whole beneficial train of instruction.

 

[DiamondSwan]

I've been keeping up on the saline rinse and putting a little bit of coconut oil in her eye, and straight nutri drench twice a day. Still doing probiotics, electrolytes, and ACV. I really don't think that they have some type of disease, the 4 ALs died around the same time on day 2, the rest are now almost 2 weeks old and I haven't had any more deaths since. All are wide eyed and healthy except for the little one, She still keeps her eye closed and isn't growing (I named her Thalia). She eats and drinks and has the fullest crop out of them all, I don't see her eat a whole lot though, that's what I don't understand. She also likes to perch on the stick I put in there and I noticed she was pecking at the baby cake a little bit. She does everything very slowly and she's not as perky as the others, she sleeps standing up with her head down, and she's always trying to get warm. She complains a lot when I'm cleaning her eye. Is there something I could feed her with the dropper to give her extra nutrients, like egg yoke or something? Is there something extra I can give her to help her little body start functioning properly? I didn't get any pasty butts yesterday or the day before, but got 1 today, I cleaned her off and slathered some coconut oil on her bum. Hopefully that'll go away soon. @casportpony @Miss Lydia

 

[Miss Lydia]

I've been keeping up on the saline rinse and putting a little bit of coconut oil in her eye, and straight nutri drench twice a day. Still doing probiotics, electrolytes, and ACV. I really don't think that they have some type of disease, the 4 ALs died around the same time on day 2, the rest are now almost 2 weeks old and I haven't had any more deaths since. All are wide eyed and healthy except for the little one, She still keeps her eye closed and isn't growing (I named her Thalia). She eats and drinks and has the fullest crop out of them all, I don't see her eat a whole lot though, that's what I don't understand. She also likes to perch on the stick I put in there and I noticed she was pecking at the baby cake a little bit. She does everything very slowly and she's not as perky as the others, she sleeps standing up with her head down, and she's always trying to get warm. She complains a lot when I'm cleaning her eye. Is there something I could feed her with the dropper to give her extra nutrients, like egg yoke or something? Is there something extra I can give her to help her little body start functioning properly? I didn't get any pasty butts yesterday or the day before, but got 1 today, I cleaned her off and slathered some coconut oil on her bum. Hopefully that'll go away soon. @casportpony @Miss Lydia

@casportpony may rec tube feeding her but if her crop is full then it sounds like she is getting nutrients and the nutri drench is giving her good things too. When you are treating her eye can you see the eyeball what does it look like and is there any discharge? redness? What is the temp in your brooder? You could try to feed her some egg yolk most chickens love it. make sure there is plenty of water available.

 

[casportpony]

What does her poop look like?

-Kathy

 

[Tevyes Dad]

What does her poop look like?

-Kathy

I just about fell off my chair laughing so hard. I know this is a valid and important diagnosis tool, but this could just about be an auto-responder when Kathy is not at her desk at the moment.

Seriously @DiamondSwan I hope Thailia grows up healthy and Kathy is a great source of information on things like this. I have no clue so I will just watch, hope, and hopefully learn...

 

[casportpony]

Quote: You're funny! Chick not growing, I wanna see the poop.

-Kathy

 

[Amiga]

Could she have a gut flora imbalance? Swollen tummy, eating off, not thriving. I am thinking probiotics in her water is worth a try. Even the tiniest little bit of coconut oil because it's a natural yeast-reducer, I am told.

TLC - talk to her, sing to her, encourage her. My ducks respond to a good pep talk.

 

[DiamondSwan]

@casportpony
may rec tube feeding her but if her crop is full then it sounds like she is getting nutrients and the nutri drench is giving her good things too. When you are treating her eye can you see the eyeball what does it look like and is there any discharge? redness? What is the temp in your brooder? You could try to feed her some egg yolk most chickens love it. make sure there is plenty of water available.

It's big and swollen, but no discharge or anything like that. I separated her from the others and gave her 1 little friend because she was always acting like she was cold and the others were panting. She's happy now that it's warmer, I'm thinking she'll probably have to stay in the brooder longer than the others.

What does her poop look like?

-Kathy

It looks normal like the other's poop to me.

I just about fell off my chair laughing so hard.  I know this is a valid and important diagnosis tool, but this could just about be an auto-responder when Kathy is not at her desk at the moment.

Seriously @DiamondSwan
I hope Thailia grows up healthy and Kathy is a great source of information on things like this.  I have no clue so I will just watch, hope, and hopefully learn...

People even post pictures of poop, it's normal in the chicken world lol.

I hope she grows up healthy too.

Could she have a gut flora imbalance?  Swollen tummy, eating off, not thriving.  I am thinking probiotics in her water is worth a try.  Even the tiniest little bit of coconut oil because it's a natural yeast-reducer, I am told.  

TLC - talk to her, sing to her, encourage her.  My ducks respond to a good pep talk.

I've been using probiotics, electrolytes, and ACV in her water. I haven't tried the coconut oil, I've been putting that on her eye. Do you think it would be best to give it to her straight, or in her water?

 

[casportpony]

@DiamondSwan , what does the eyeball look like? Lots of swelling makes me think there might be pus in there?


-Kathy